The Soldier Of Misfortune
by Don Socrates
Summary: AU; - Perseus Jackson is one of the best in his line of work. He's a lone wolf mercenary with a legendary past, trying to get by, but his long time rival, Artemis, has shown up and she's on a personal mission to get in his way, but how will they work when they're both hired to take down Kronos? - Pertemis. WARNING: Strong language and even stronger sexual themes.
1. Chapter 1 - Crossed Paths

**Chapter 1 – Crossed Paths**

The legendary mercenary stalked through the back alley with unnerving stealth. His target was inside, but a rival group that went by the company name 'The Hunters of Artemis' had also located the target and had been offered an even bigger sum of money than he had, for the exact same mission. It seemed that someone wanted the two of them to find each other. If he did his job properly, not only would he get a massive pay check, but he'd also piss off that self-righteous misandrist Artemis.

For a long time Perseus had looked up to Artemis and wanted to work for her but she had a personal vendetta against men and wouldn't even employ them for back room admin. It was sexist, but there was nothing anybody could do about it, The Hunters of Artemis were an elite mercenary group that had been black listed in eight different countries. Percy had only been black listed from six countries, not that he saw it as a competition or anything like that...

Perseus counted six entry points, two doors, four windows. This was a cake walk of a job, or so he thought until he saw a flash of silver in his vision towards the end of the alleyway. He cursed under his breath before donning his custom carbine rifle. It always was a feeling of true freedom to be able to carry a gun wherever he pleased. Perseus wasn't oblivious to why he always got in trouble with local authorities, the man was a walking arsenal half of the time.

Perseus couldn't waste any more time. Another minute and Artemis and her hunters would get the target before Perseus could. He kicked down the door and began his raid. Ten minutes later and all hostiles had been killed, all with clean shots. He burst through another door in the structure and it was only then that Perseus noticed that he seemed to be in a derelict warehouse. Why had the deal been here? It was derelict of course, but it was impossible to escape two different mercenary groups such as the ones that were expected to raid the targets.

Just as he got to the table that had the open briefcase he felt cold steel against his throat. "It's been a while hasn't it Perseus?" He heard a familiar voice that belonged to the only being that could rival him in most senses of the word; Artemis. The one woman he admitted was better than him specifically in their line of work. She stood behind him, another knife firm against his back if he made any sudden movements. Had she come alone? He wasn't sure that she could take him down in one on one combat in this proximity if it came down to it.

Nonetheless he tilted his head slightly, the blade moved as his neck did, until he could see the edge of her auburn hair that had been braided into a combat effective pony tail that landed halfway down her back. Her silver urban camouflage was a nice touch, it only served to enhance her strong silver eyes that Perseus could see glinting in the edge of his vision.

"Artemis." He grunted dryly. If this went south, which it already was, then he'd leave empty handed again. She'd never kill Perseus flat out, he was too much of a good challenge for her. Something that she would never tell him, that she actually saw them as equals, but he was a lone wolf, by choice no less. Artemis had an entire mercenary faction.

"So Perseus, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" She asked seductively. She was a huge man hater but for what it was worth, she loved to tease her prey when they were stuck in her fingers, but that statement was only loose at best when talking about Perseus Jackson. She could have had him tied up to the neck in rope and he would still find some way to survive. He truly did amaze her but that was her little secret that no one, not even Artemis' second in command, Thalia Grace (Perseus' cousin no less), knew about.

"Well." He said casually before thrusting his arm up and under the knife at his throat before turning and sweeping his knee high into her other hand, knocking the second knife clear of his body before slamming Artemis into the side of the wall, holding her arms behind her back, both of his hands clasped firmly above her own. To anyone else these two would have looked like lovers but they had a long history of fighting each other on cross missions.

"That depends on whether or not the hard way is me fucking you senseless." Perseus retorted, an amused glint in his eye. Both of them were breathing heavily from the struggle but it had yet only just begun. Artemis winked at him before bringing her knee up high and straight into the side of Perseus' thighs. He was pushed back slightly but it was just enough for Artemis to jump and roll free on his range.

"Why is it always you that brings out so much tension?" She muttered under her breath before closing in with a knife. Had she not seen it with her own eyes, she would never have believed that anyone would ever have been capable of doing it, but as she brought her knife down to try and leave a surface cut on his face, there was a blur of black as his arms came up and his fists clamped down either side of her combat knife. She couldn't budge it up or down once he'd encased it in a vault of pressure using only his bare hands.

"Perhaps it's because you're actually drawn to me? Maybe that's why you're always coming in and ruining my missions." He hissed with a smirk on show before twisting his hands around her wrist and disarming her of her knife. Artemis was still far too skilled to be considered lightly, even without any weapons.

He had only a pistol concealed behind his back, but he wasn't about to pull that out, especially not then, right after Artemis had pulled her fists up to engage him hand to hand. She was too smart to have gone into a fist fight with him of all people without a backup firearm as well, so he knew to be careful with this upcoming fight yet at the same time he knew that he couldn't pass up on this, he seldom got to fight anyone as interesting as she was despite her layers upon layers of protection against anyone getting close to her, not that he'd really tried.

Perseus was the first one to move in this time, swinging with his right that Artemis had speedily ducked under before hooking her own arms across his outstretched one. She twisted her body and tried to throw Perseus using an extremely difficult grapple considering the size difference between the two of them. Right before it was too late for him to recover, Perseus twisted his own body which resulted in his feet slamming back down to the ground.

The lone wolf spun Artemis around, holding both of her wrists behind her head and her body tight against his own. Honestly, he wasn't really sure where he could go from there. "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" She asked coyly, breaking one of her wrists free of his grasp. Before he could restrain her hand, she immediately grabbed his crotch and let out a surprised gasp.

"So I know you weren't expecting me to-" Percy began. Artemis used that as her chance to break free. She jumped and kicked out her feet against his chest before hitting the ground and rolling forward. Percy quickly pulled the gun out from the back of his waist.

"But it actually was a gun." She instantly brought up her pistol and took aim at the mercenary in front of her, unfortunately there was a reason that he was one of the best in the business. He too had drawn his weapon with lightning speed. His gun was far more heavily customized than Artemis' was. "But I wasn't hiding it in my crotch, but that didn't stop you from finding something you liked." He remarked under her breath. Judging from her serious scowl, she heard him, either that or she'd had enough of the endless sexual tension between them and really was about to end their fight with a bullet.

Perseus looked at her incredulously. "Are you really about to waste me for a sum of money that I know you would happily have sent one of your trainees to collect? No, I don't think so. What is the real reason you came Artemis?" Perseus asked her as he casually holstered his weapon. Despite the obvious danger he was in from just being shot he had an air of confidence that Artemis couldn't deny she was attracted to.

"Are you finally seeking to get over your man hating ways? If so then I doubt you're going after the right guy. I'd just screw you then leave for my next mission, but hey at least I'm honest about it. Now if you're planning on killing me, get over with it, otherwise stop fucking around with all of my missions. I've got bills to pay." Perseus snapped at his rival, staring straight into her silver eyes, openly challenging her to pull that trigger and end his life. She cursed under her breath, the only indication Perseus needed to know that he had achieved a split second window of time to do something about her.

Perseus jumped high and reverse kicked the gun clean out of her hands before spinning around and sending his heel into her ribs. She would have been flung clean over the table if he hadn't hooked his hand around her waist and prevented her from tumbling across the ground. "Next time, sexy." Perseus winked before grabbed the briefcase and bolting away from the angry mercenary he'd left in his wake.

The legendary lone wolf let off two bullets that shattered the window closest to them before he barreled through it. Artemis' mind hadn't immediately registered what had happened but once it had she gave chase, using her superior speed to quickly zone in on him. She tracked him right back to where she'd parked her motorcycle. She'd left it right next to one that she knew was his own. One was a bright silver that reflected light off of everything it came into contact with, the other bike which was what Perseus was currently starting up with incredible efficiency was midnight black. Artemis had caught up quickly and mounted her own bike.

"We're splitting the pay. Sixty forty as I took care of the snipers on the adjacent roof tops. They were waiting for you, you know. You've become quite the little target." Artemis commented lightly as she mounted her bike next to Perseus.

"I'll tell you what. I'll split it fifty fifty if you beat me, if I beat you we go seventy thirty my way." Percy winked at her before gunning the engine of his obsidian black superbike. "Come on Blackjack, let's show this front line feminist how it's done." He whispered loud enough for Artemis to hear. He could almost feel her glare as he rocketed down the empty midnight roads.

 **A/N: This is a re-write of Mercenary, I'm currently going to upload the first five chapters as that covers the very first story arc that will be in this piece, if you guys all respond to it well, then I'll continue with the re-write, so give a review then read the next chapter and review that one as well ;)**


	2. Chapter 2 - Crossed Missions

**Chapter 2 - Crossed Missions  
**

As the two bikers sped through the midnight streets of Manhattan, they came to a halt just outside a little storefront that offered a slightly different atmosphere in the back rooms. Just beyond the counter of the dry cleaners was the bounty hunter agency. Now, mercenaries and bounty hunters were very different things, but when you got offered a job by Zeus, the famous contractor, you took it with very little hesitation if any at all. Both Perseus and Artemis had both had a few years of contractual history with Zeus and as such, they both received preferential treatment over the best contracts, though lately, that was extending to both of them at the same time.

Perseus wheeled his bike to a standstill where Artemis was already waiting, inspecting her nails smugly. "Well I guess that makes it fifty fifty, but I'm sure I'll get that back when you end up paying me for sex anyway." He said with ridiculous confidence as he dismounted his bike and removed his helmet altogether. Artemis glared at him once again with those same silver eyes that always seemed to get past his defenses no matter how hard he'd try to keep himself away from them. He led the way through the agency. These two walking together was a sight rarer than gold but the amount of respect they'd earned accumulative was astounding, no one was better at the job than the two mercenaries walking towards Zeus' office.

Perseus took one look at the name on the door and frowned, his mind already hard at work on irrelevant things. "God, why does everyone have such weird fucking names?" He asked casually with a very nonchalant shrug, proving that regardless of the answer, he didn't truly care.

"Like Perseus?" Artemis prodded him in the ribs. He looked at her and seriously considered shooting her in the face before he instead opened the door like a gentleman. She wanted to say something about it but ignored him instead and simply strode into the office.

"Ah, my top two agents." Zeus said as he stood. He was a big man who had a love for wearing suits without the jacket. He was currently wearing some trousers and bracers of THE ugliest shade of brown imaginable, with a white checkered shirt on complete with a dirty lightning blue tie hung loosely around his neck. His office stank of cigar smoke. There were still little clouds of smoke that were slowly drifting towards the ceiling before seeping out of the window. Perseus glared at the offending item that was ever so casually sitting in an ashtray at the edge of Zeus' desk.

"Mercenaries." Perseus corrected him quite loudly. You would have thought that after the second year of jobs for this guy he could at least get your title right.

"Yes well anyway, we've got something big, something that I want the both of you on actually. Jackson, it's going to require your specialist skills but the job itself is simply too big for your lone wolf act as the client wants this done with minimal bloodshed yet there is still a request for a head. Discretion will be absolutely necessary. Can I count on the two of you to get along for this?" Zeus looked at the two of them with steely eyes. In truth, this was a job that ONLY these two working with one another were ever going to achieve. The client was asking quite a lot with this and Zeus got the sneaking suspicion that this was going to be a gateway to a few more lucrative contracts that would put both of these two renowned mercenaries, and himself, greatly into the spotlight.

"Yes sir." They both responded through gritted teeth. Each was given a folder with identical information as well as a nice sum of money for their previous job. Perseus was already out of Zeus' office before the contractor had even had the chance to wave goodbye. Artemis sighed before following him out. Being the head of her own mercenary company, she'd learned quite a few passive skills, like being able to roughly estimate the difficulty of a mission by the thickness of a mission dossier.

"Well that settles it, I'm going to go and kill myself." Perseus stated happily as he folded the information dossier away inside the seat storage of Blackjack, his prized super-bike. Artemis rolled her eyes at him, not that he'd been paying attention. Now that the mission was over, he was far more concerned with getting some food into his stomach, yet in the early hours of the morning, the only satisfying elements of 'food' that were available were shoddy takeaway restaurants.

"Well, we've got to go through these documents together. There's no way I'm missing out on a payday this big, we're going to have to get over our differences and just get on with it, so are you going to be mature and work through these documents with me?" Artemis asked him impatiently. His answer was not something that she expected to ever hear.

"Sure, and seeing as you just spoiled half of my own payday you can buy dinner. My place in half an hour, get Chinese." He said as he put an obsidian black helmet on and roared up the engine on Blackjack before winking sarcastically and driving away.

"But I don't even know where you-" Artemis began in wild confusion before her phone vibrated with a message. It was from an unknown number but it was an address and signed with 'Perseus' at the bottom of the text. How had he even gotten her private phone number? Damn, he was even better than she'd though and that was saying something as they'd been doing this song and dance for over a year now.

"Very well Perseus, let's do things your way." Artemis nodded, she wasn't defeated yet, but finding a Chinese restaurant open in this particular area was sure to be a challenge as she didn't know these streets very well at all.

 **Line Break Bitches.**

Perseus strolled through his apartment. The faint sound of a motorcycle engine died down just outside. His apartment was the second floor in a block of flats. It was nice and he had simple tastes, it helped to keep the rent low. He was wearing some old torn grey tracksuit pants and a black vest that clung to his chest with ease.

With a tumbler of vodka in his hand he was studying his dossier of information. 'Kronos', a highly sought after target. Again with the weird names? He was starting to see an annoying pattern emerge here, one that he was confident wasn't about to stop.

The reward for capturing this mark alive was nothing compared to what it was for taking him in dead yet there was still a 'key element' that they had to capture him alive and interrogate him about a top secret investment named 'Trident'. Somebody really wanted Perseus to work for his reward. Zeus just passed along contracts to the most suitable people, he didn't actually issue them from his own personal accounts of mercenary necessity. A knock at the door made Perseus automatically walk towards it and open the way without even looking at who was behind it, after all, who would be knocking at his door at three AM other than his 'partner' for this mission. In strolled Artemis, still in her silver combat gear, carrying bags of wrapped up food in either hand.

"Do you like mushrooms?" She asked somewhat mischievously. She didn't hesitate to find her way to the kitchen and start unwrapping all of the things she'd bought. She'd worked up an appetite by fighting against him and she was sure that he'd done the same, so she hadn't exactly gone easy on the food.

"No." He said as he took a sip of the vodka that was gracefully flowing around his glass before shutting his door. The lights were low but still clear enough for Artemis to navigate Perseus' kitchen and find plates and cutlery.

"Good, more for me then." She responded, helping herself to Perseus' ice cold beers. He always kept a section of his freezer completely stocked with beers. They never completely froze over because of the alcohol content yet they always remained at that perfect temperature. He was a little surprised that Artemis knew to look there straight away, or perhaps it was just a lucky, or hopeful, guess.

"I can just pick them out you know." Perseus retorted incredulously, looking up from the file for the first time. She was busy unpacking all of the food that she had bought and was oblivious to his serious case of wandering eye. She had an amazing figure with an ass that he was seriously torn over grabbing and not letting go of.

"Not when it's mushroom and duck soup, you can't." Artemis responded smugly. He nodded his head in somewhat of an agreement, fair play.

That being said, he wasn't about to let that stop him from filling up, not when he so badly needed to get something into his stomach after the past few hours he'd had. "Well I'm sure I'll be able to stomach it none the less." He went back to reading his file.

"You know, I'm not actually sure if this is a two man job. I could easily grab this guy when he's making his daily coffee run. There must be something else about him, there's no way Zeus wants us to work this together if the job is that easy." Perseus told her incredulously. She took the file out of his hands.

"Kronos. Thirty two years old, habits, locations it's all there. Gods look at the difference in those summary fees. No wonder it's a two man job, you're looking at the easiest approach, the one where Kronos dies regardless of any information we get out of him. Check this." She explained as she flicked through a few pages inside the dossier to something that looked far more suited to Perseus' methods.

"Holy shit you're right, I could never pull this off. I did read about that whole interrogation thing. Hmm, wonder what this 'Trident' thing is about." He hummed to himself as he put the file down and focused on the food. He literally pulled a big wooden spoon out of a drawer and shoved a big portion of everything all onto one plate before walking over to an eating table that also acted as an island.

"So I guess you're against the easy approach?" Perseus asked. He knew the answer but it was worth a shot. A well placed sniper round well topple Kronos in the middle of the street as he went to get a morning coffee, but of course, that way didn't give them the chance to wring him for information.

"If I was after the easy approach, I'd never have agreed to come on this stupid job." Artemis sat down next to him. An hour ago she had a knife to his throat, now they were having dinner in low light.

"Whatever. I'm too spent to be thinking about this too hard." Perseus laughed as he got up and pulled out a bottle of clear liquid.

"What are you doing?" Artemis asked him incredulously.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I've already finished my first drink, I'm having another one that will calm my nerves when I'm sitting next to the woman that's already tried to kill me once today. Why, did you want some?" He asked her sarcastically as he took a big swig straight out of the bottle and placed it on the table. To his surprise, she took to it without hesitation. He just knew that this night was about to get a lot more interesting now.

 **A/N: Review?  
**


	3. Chapter 3 - Crossed Intentions

**Chapter 3 – Crossed Intentions  
**

Four forty two AM, Perseus bolted upright in his bed. His head felt like it was being caved in. That was when he noticed the THREE empty bottles of Vodka lying around his bedroom. What shocked him more was the naked figure of Artemis lying right next to him. She stirred briefly.

"Still don't trust me?" She asked him woozily. She gently used her nails to trace patterns in the side of his back as he sat there, a thin sheen of sweat moving over him. They were both still heavily drunk, but Perseus nightmares were back, and they would not be forgotten any time soon.

"No, I don't trust you, but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt." He admitted as he swung his legs out over the side of the bed. He pulled the cord to the small lamp on the bedside table and a shallow light filled the room.

Artemis pushed herself up onto her knees so that she was kneeling right behind him. She started to trace her finger against the scars on his back. She started at the nape of his neck, the sensation of her soft caress sent a shiver down his spine. She pulled her hands all the way down his back until she was touching the fresh nail marks that would scar. She noticed the trail of blood that had been dragged frantically across his back. The dried blood stained her very own fingernails.

"Why? Because you've fucked me now?" Artemis asked him coyly. The only response she got immediately was his head tilt slightly towards her. She could see that he had an eyebrow raised in surprise.

"No, because I've admired you my whole life in the industry. I'd hate to have to kill my icon." Perseus snorted. What? He'd looked up to her the entire time he'd been a mercenary? But he was a legendary lone wolf! Sure he had expressed interest in joining Artemis' hunters a long time ago, but she couldn't have said yes then, he was a nobody, but not now, now he was Perseus Jackson, the man with a one hundred percent success rate.

"Why did you wake up?" Artemis asked him, wanting to suddenly change the subject. She'd begun feeling guilty about her past regret. She sat up and pressed her body against his. He felt the warmth of her breasts covering his back, and even though they had been in the covers, her nipples were suddenly erect and poking against his back. It served to turn him on no small amount. She even went so far as to wrap her hands around his stomach, actively touching his finely tuned abdominal muscles.

"The nightmares." Perseus admitted. Nightmares might have seemed like a childish thing to some people, but Artemis knew too well the kind of things that could scar a person, she found herself wondering exactly what Perseus' would be. The strength of the PTSD that someone with Perseus' reputation could have was astounding, the simple fact that he had outright admitted that he had nightmares made her respect him even more. She knew that this kind of thing could destroy someone so completely that they became a shell of their former selves so she didn't want to push him on the subject, she had too much respect for him, she couldn't have him go down the darkest path that a warrior faced, yet...

"What of?" She asked him quietly. Subconsciously, her hands that were tracing his finely tuned muscles had grasped him ever so slightly tighter. She wasn't really sure what her perception of him really was, but she knew that despite everything, there was nobody out there to cover his back, not in the way that she thought she once could.

Perseus slowly reached into the drawer of the cabinet and brought out an injection kit with a sigh. "Before I became a mercenary, I served in the Navy SEALS with my cousin, Jason." He began. His cousin Jason? That name was familiar to Artemis because Jason was her second in command's younger brother. "That's how I got most of my training. But the shit that I went through, they deemed me unfit for service. Mentally and emotionally unfit, not to mention my physical wounds. This serum can solve the physical problems, but no amount of chemical will help me forget the torture." Perseus sighed again as he injected a syringe of viscous green liquid into his thigh.

Service? He was in the military so of course he could only have meant THAT when he said torture, "I was a prisoner of war Artemis. The nightmares are just incredibly vivid flashbacks of the past. I heard my closest friends, my brothers no less, scream their last as their lives were extinguished in the most gruesome of manners." Perseus looked away from Artemis' longing gaze, he couldn't hold eye contact with another human being, not while the wounds in his heart were being reopened. He'd loved each and every one of his men like they were his blood brothers, and for what it was worth, they practically were, and he had to listen to them all being killed in gruesome ways, powerless to stop any of it.

Perseus looked up, his eyes no longer held that cheeky and challenging mirth that they once had, "Back in the middle east, my entire squad was either wiped out in the final firefight or we were captured and taken underground." Perseus' hand instinctively clutched around the set of metal dog tags that hung around his neck. They were dented, battered and one of them had bullet damage. These things could have saved his life at one point.

"Jason's squad came in under covert ops to rescue my squad, it was a total farce. After I'd bee found and freed, the militants sprung an ambush. Me and Jason were the only ones to get out of there alive." Perseus explained, never once being able to tear his empty gaze away from the distant darkness that was constantly threatening to overwhelm his mind.

So Artemis had been right, in his short life, he'd already seen so much that a human being should have to be put through. Her respect for him had never been higher. She'd have to be very careful how he went about showing her respect for him or people would start to notice things about her and she couldn't be dealing with rumors thought that was something that in the worst case scenario, her company could handle while she was busy personally seeing to missions like the one she had currently undertaken.

"Perseus, I'm so sorry." Was all his long-time rival could utter, her hands had found a solid grip on his body and they didn't feel like they were letting go any time soon.

"It's fine. I can eventually suppress the memories, but never for long." Percy sighed again as he returned to his lying position in the bed. To his surprise, Artemis laid her head onto his chest and wrapped her arms around him.

"This never happened, and if you tell Thalia, I WILL kill you." She threatened him at last. Perseus laughed at her sudden outburst. Would she really kill him? She could only try. After all of the things he'd been through, would it be justified for HER to be the one to finally take him out?

"It would be totally worth it." Perseus grinned. He leant over and turned off his lamp, plunging them both back into darkness. When he got back to lying down, Artemis had gotten even closer than before, her lips inches away from his own. He felt her hand bunch into a fist, like she was trying to frantically hold onto him, but his lack of clothes meant that her hand just rested lazily on top of his collarbone.

"Perseus." Artemis whined with a fake tone that implied she was seconds away from throwing a temper tantrum. That was something that, coming from her, Perseus wasn't sure whether or not he would be able to effectively handle.

"Yes?" He replied extremely cautiously, entirely unaware of exactly what to expect from her at that precise point in time. Her scent suddenly filled his nose as he took in the sweet aroma of cinnamon that danced along his senses, nullifying any anxiety he had about her in that exact moment.

"We need to sleep but I'm not tired anymore. Fix it." She told him slyly. It was dark so she no doubt couldn't see but a wide grin swept across Perseus' face at the beautiful gift that was alcohol. They were both still drunk but it was the vodka which had led to this in the first place. Artemis didn't wait for Perseus to respond with anything witty, she dragged her tongue across jawline, then down to his collarbone and straight back up to his neck where a small stubble was already growing.

A moan escaped his lips as a result of Artemis immediately giving into her animalistic instincts and freely pursuing the thing that she most wanted. Feeling pleased with herself because of Perseus' audible pleasure, she decided to continue. She swept her wet tongue back across his chest, across one of his nipples and down to his impossibly set abs. She stopped with a kiss to his belly button before her tongue picked up the trail once more. They had both been completely naked so what she was doing next was easy.

Even in the darkness it was easy for Perseus to make out the shape of Artemis' amazingly perfect ass slowly rising as her back arched and her head moved lower on his body. Suddenly he could see her entire body right as her tongue seemed to reach its destination.

"Oh fuck." Perseus moaned in overwhelming ecstasy. For someone that was renowned for being so cold to men in general, she had no difficulty in wrapping Perseus around her finger in order to satisfy her own extreme sexual desires. He was most surprised when he found out that her sex drive was almost as high as his own. They were both left feeling incredibly satisfied after they'd had their first rampage but it seemed that after only an hour's sleep that they were both perfectly happy to go again. Both of their bodies still held a sheen of moisture from where they'd both 'accidentally' found themselves covered in oil.

Perseus wasn't going to be outdone, he pulled her up towards his body before they both rolled across his bed. "I swear to the Gods Perseus, stop teasing me!" Artemis moaned after Perseus' dexterous hands had deftly navigated her curves and found the warmth between her legs. She was feeling sensitive after their initial session so turning her on was the easiest thing he'd done all day.

Sure enough they both became entangled with one another under the ocean blue sheets that lined Perseus' king sized bed and the moans of them both began to get louder and louder. It was lucky that the apartment building they were in had thick walls or he'd have plenty of angry neighbors to be dealing with after all this.

By the time they had both collapsed in a heap after their second round there was daylight trying it's absolute best to penetrate the blinds that covered the windows. The alcohol was still in effect but neither of them exactly had anywhere to be that day so they were both content with simply falling asleep for as long as it took for them to recuperate after what had become pretty much a night of solid drinking and fucking.

Not that either of them minded even remotely, Artemis made one final comment about keeping this between the two of them, which Perseus responded to by closing his lips over her exposed breast. "You can't be serious!?" She demanded in a hushed whisper before pleasure spread out across her body once more.

"Gods damn Perseus, you really are an anima-OH!" Artemis' voice turned into a gasp as her hands rapidly grasped at the sheets when Perseus' face disappeared under the sheets. She wasn't even sure how she was able to carry on doing this, but she had a faint idea. Perseus; he brought out a side of her that nobody else could.

"FUCK!" Was the last thing Artemis managed to practically scream before she pulled Perseus out of the sheets and forced her mouth against his, unable to hold herself back any longer.

 **A/N: Review?  
**


	4. Chapter 4 - Crossed Minds

**Chapter 4 – Crossed Minds  
**

Perseus woke with a headache, but no memory loss, it was very clear to him why the beautiful woman lying next to him was there. He made no effort to get up however, even though he knew that he needed to start making plans of approach on their assignment.

Perseus knew when Zeus was holding something back and when himself and Artemis had taken in the briefcase of info from their previous job, Zeus had carried himself very discretely with his wording when explaining that HE wanted both Artemis and Perseus to work together. Perseus got the sneaking suspicion that the two of them had been specifically requested for this mission.

It wasn't a hugely outlandish thing to hear of, especially for mercenaries of their fame. People in other regions that had gotten a reputation for themselves were always being requested for specific things.

This mission, this capture, interrogate then kill mission was going to be tough. Kronos, the location of whom was listed only as his own penthouse suit in the top of his corporation's tower, and every morning at around ten o clock he'd walk a couple of blocks south to go for coffee.

The only access points were for pros, which admittedly the two of them were, and the only other thing Perseus could see as an advantage was the fact that one of Kronos' subordinates, a man named Atlas, attended to pretty much all of Kronos' other needs. Kronos had a very particular schedule that involved Atlas in nearly every single action that Kronos himself took. By the sounds of it, Atlas was a very reputable personal bodyguard, one that had foiled several attempts on Kronos' life.

Given all that Perseus had already read from the files, there was a good chance that Kronos was expecting more attempts on his life, that would mean that security would no doubt be even tighter than if Kronos' was ignorant to them.

Kronos was involved with many different black operations that had caused him some unwanted attention, but it was the recent project known only as 'Trident' that he'd invested in which had caused the client to cash out for both the legendary lone wolf Perseus Jackson, and the Titan sized Artemis to act together in order to take him down.

Artemis stirred slightly, her head still on Perseus' chest. "Percy?" She called out.

"Perseus." He corrected her automatically.

"Perseus?" Her fake innocent voice never faltered and she continued without missing a beat. She batted her eyelashes dramatically at him.

"Yes?" He answered her with a single raised eyebrow. He was pretty sure that whatever she was going to say, or whatever it was that she now wanted from him, was going to amuse him greatly.

"I can't move my legs." She told him seriously. A humored smile slowly made it's way across his face as he took this in. His ego had only risen that much more during his night with her.

"Well it is only eight am, we only stopped an hour ago. Give it another couple of hours." He told her as he gently moved her over so that she could recuperate in comfort. A huge smile plastered on his face however. She may not have meant to, but she had boosted his ego by astronomical amounts. Instead he went to go and use his own shower before his one night stand no doubt took all of the time in the day to use it. Was that all it was to him? Just a one night stand? He shook his head of such thoughts, a drunken mistake was all that she would see it as no doubt, he wouldn't get his hopes up that she would actually see him any differently now, or not while she had a reputation to uphold at least.

After all, she's made him swear their night of untold passion to be kept in complete secrecy. He expected that sooner or later someone would find out but people knowing right away would spell trouble, especially if people knew before the two of them had even had the time to figure out what it all meant to themselves.

When Perseus got out of the shower he walking into his kitchen now fully clothed only to find Artemis eating yet more of his food. He didn't know how he felt about this but just chose to ignore it. She was however at least examining the intelligence packs that Zeus had given them, so that was something.

"I think if we were to take out Atlas then Kronos would just seal off the company. No, I think we should take a stealthier approach to this." He explained as he opened his fridge to retrieve an unopened bottle of fresh orange juice. Artemis examined him. He opened the metal cap with a thumb and lifted it up to his mouth where he proceeded to drink the entire thing. As he threw his head back to get the last drops out his shirt rode up to reveal more badly healing scars that could only have been made by Artemis' long fingernails.

"What?" Perseus asked, absolutely oblivious to Artemis' ogling. She pointing to his stomach and he lifted his shirt to examine the damage. She could see his perfect body in the morning light that flowed into Perseus' apartment.

"Huh, look at that." He said casually as he trailed a hand across the deep scratches.

"What kind of approach did you have in mind?" Artemis asked him curiously. Perseus came over and lifted the folder off of the islands that Artemis was sat next to. "Lift your bowl and I'll tell you." He explained very cryptically. Artemis raised an eyebrow at him incredulously but did as she was told.

"War map activate." Perseus said loudly. His voice was echoed by a very mechanical crunch as the Island split into two separate pieces of kitchen furnishings and a big metal board seemed to expand over the top of it. A holographic display was soon engrossing the entire kitchen. He looked at ease with his gadgets and technology that Artemis knew he could have made a decent living off of inventing this sort of stuff, yet he chose the dangerous walks of life.

"Holy shit." Artemis muttered off hand as she went to stand next to Perseus.

"Bring up a tactical map of Kronos corp and the surrounding area." Perseus casually ordered the war console on what to do and it complied immediately.

"Yes sir." A slightly autonomous woman's voice answered him, instantly filling the kitchen with a holographic map of red, yellow and green lights that illuminated exactly what Perseus had asked it to do.

"You have a female A.I?" Artemis' wide eyes were a good indication that he was time and again impressive her with his unique lifestyle.

"I started with a guy's voice module but he kept giving me weird responses that just didn't sound right, so I switched it over. And it's a V.I, can't bring myself to ever trust the concept of an A.I." Perseus responded completely neutrally, not a single hint of sarcasm was present in his tone or expression when he responded to Artemis' queries. She continued to eat his food but still couldn't help but ask more questions.

"Why, what's wrong with an A.I?" She pushed, determined to find out what made him tick, even when it came down to little things like this. Finding out WHY he would dislike something that could help advance them in their line of work to such a magnificent degree. She knew he was old fashioned in a traditional mercenary kind of way but that was just pushing it.

"You've clearly never seen the Terminator." He told her quickly before casting his gaze back to the war map that filled his entire kitchen. Artemis offered no response, he wasn't exactly wrong after all.

"Interesting. Well, I think we've got a few options here. Either we can parachute to the very top of the tower and find an entry point along the east side of the structure, or we can go in underground via the sewers. It seems that they have their own underground facilities that connect to a water filtration structure half a mile west." Perseus explained. Artemis couldn't help but stare in awe at the genius of her temporary partner.

"Do you always form your strategies like this?" She asked him curiously.

"No." He laughed with an amused smile, "I always just improvise, but when I have a second factor such as allies to worry about I always plan things out, because it's not just my life on the line. I refuse to be held responsible for the death of others via incompetence. This way if anyone were to die, I would simply not be the cause." Perseus explained. His logic was flawless, Artemis had the overwhelming urge to kiss him right then and there, but she uncertainly shook it off. The urge was going to be ever present throughout this entire mission and she just knew that it was going to cause her problems.

She put the empty bowl in the sink before propping herself up on the island that had opened up to reveal the war map below. She was no longer focused on it, but instead on him. She was only wearing her underwear and his shirt from last night which gave him a rather nice view of her curves. "Well, I am NOT going through the sewers, so how, do tell, are we going to get high enough to parachute onto Kronos' corp?" Artemis asked him incredulously once again. Perseus seemed happier than he had ever been when she asked this.

"Jason. When I was disbanded because of mental instability, there wasn't much left of the old team, so he went his own way and become one of the Top Gun pilots. He's the best fighter pilot I've ever seen. He's got connections still, he can get us in the air." Perseus was practically beaming at his chance to see his old squad mate.

"You were close weren't you? To all of them it's clear, but Jason, you were very close to." Artemis' voice fell soft as she looked into his eyes that slowly began to regain that miraculous mirth.

"Yeah. He was my best friend. We grew up together, I suppose it helps that he was my cousin." Perseus beamed once more. He clearly didn't see him often enough.

"Well then, we're going to see your cousin." Artemis told him with a sincere smile.

"Yes. Yes we are." Perseus smiled once again before putting his hands on Artemis' back and quickly pecking her on the lips. They both looked surprised by Perseus' actions, especially Artemis but she quickly got past that when she found herself subconsciously tugging at the neckline of Perseus' shirt.

He raised an eyebrow at her which caused her to notice what she was doing. She sighed before making it abundantly clear that she'd rested enough. She quickly wrapped her legs behind Perseus, pulling him in closer. "God dammit." She whispered before pulling him into a deeper kiss.

"What?" He asked in total confusion.

"Fuck me, right now." She demanded, taking his shirt off and throwing it across the room before being picked up in his incredibly toned arms. They never made it out of the kitchen before they were already going for it. Twenty four hours earlier she was preparing for a mission where there was a chance encounter with her rival, the legendary Perseus Jackson. Never in a million years did she expect that twenty four hours later she would be in his kitchen, being bent over his kitchen table and fucked from behind.

 **A/N: Review?  
**


	5. Chapter 5 - Crossed Hearts?

**Chapter 5 - Crossed... Hearts?  
**

"Jason!" Perseus called out excitedly. The thick twilight darkness of night that surrounded them was the perfect method for them achieving a stealth drop above the skyline of Manhattan, and that was the ONLY way that they were going to be able to infiltrate Kronos' corporate tower without having to engage in a firefight up one hundred stories just to get to one man.

Their plan was to go in from the top, take out everyone important and seal off ALL entry points from the lower floors, then they'd interrogate Kronos then and there before finally completing the last part of their contract. 'Kill'.

They weren't assassins but if the price was right and the target wasn't helping the world to progress in any way, then they made exceptions, and by the sounds of it, being the top investor in 'Trident' made him not long for this world.

"Shit Perce." Jason responded as he flicked his cigarette away. "You're looking thin." Jason grinned as he prodded Perseus in the stomach. Artemis guessed that if anyone else had done that to him, they would likely have been found dead soon after.

"Woah, cuz, who's this you've brought with you?" Jason asked as he actively eyed up Artemis. She rolled her eyes at him, typical man.

"Artemis. She's the head of a mercenary outfit. My contractor forced her on me for a job, speaking of which, we need to get high enough to drop onto Kronos Corp." Perseus soon explained, "Think you can do it? We're operating on stealth, so no one can know that we're cruising the skyline for this one." Perseus didn't once flicker in his confidence, he didn't really even need to hear Jason's answer, of course he could pull it off, he WAS a Top Gun after all.

"Not a problem. I've topped up the Memphis Two. Get in and give me the green light and we'll get going." Jason told him with a pat on the back as Perseus and Artemis got into the hangar doors of the only next generation C-17 to have ever pulled off what the original Memphis Belle had done way back in World War II.

In the loud bay area of the plane Artemis was going over the finer details with Perseus, "We'll be aiming for the East side, from there we'll climb down until we find an entry point. Got it?" She asked him surely. He nodded immediately, having instantly taken in and understood every word she'd said. His mind was in that place where he once again became an unstoppable war machine.

"Got it." He confirmed as he checked all of his weapons. His pistols and rifles were silenced and he had a knife on him. Perseus was the first to don his parachute before handing one to Artemis too. Before long there was an eerie silence filling the gap between them.

"I was wondering. What's happening when we've finished this job?" Artemis broke out suddenly. Perseus' face contorted slightly before returning to the emotionless cold face that it had replaced only moments prior.

"I go back to being a lone wolf and you go back to trying to kill me. What other options are there?" Perseus responded coolly. Artemis had a though, but she was certain that at this point he didn't return the thoughts behind it.

"Well… You could be my business partner." She said at last. He looked at her intensely for a moment or two. With a small sigh, he returned his attention to his weapons as his mind silently ran through that option. Would they be able to work together on that level? Sure they had a fierce rivalry and an even fiercer yet passionate secret intimacy, but as business partners? He'd always been a lone wolf, so would be be able to make the change to regularly working as a team?

It had been a long time since he'd worked in a team. He was the one who made the decision to split everyone up. His train of thought went back to the Seven. His gaze fell on a small rail that sat happily in the top corner of the plane, on that rack were six pairs of dog tags, each clanging against one another in a hypnotic rhythm.

"I'll think about it." He answered truthfully before standing up to stretch his legs out. He couldn't keep his mind in the past and by staring at those dog tags, he was doing nothing but reminiscing about times long passed.

"E.T.A. thirty seconds you two better be ready. Opening hangar doors. Tear some ass." Jason's voice cut out as the doors slowly lowered, revealing the city below rushing past. The time passed quickly and soon Jason gave them the green-light and they both jumped out in perfect diving form.

They soon finished their task and closed in on the rooftop. Artemis reached it first but Perseus was still a fair bit higher than she was, unless he dropped from where he was, he'd no doubt miss the roof top entirely. He pulled his knife free and cut the strings to his parachute still twenty feet above the rooftop. He stuck the landing with a heavily muffled thud before dusting himself off. "Ready to head inside?" He asked her as if he did that sort of thing on a regular basis. Oh wait, he did, because Perseus Jackson was a rather extreme badass.

"Affirmative." Artemis nodded as they both proceeded to take the tower by stealth. They'd encountered very little in the way of security so far, the odd camera here and there that they easily disconnected. They continued to play shadow games inside the tower until they started to hit more resistance. This would no doubt end up being the path that would lead them to Kronos. Even so, he'd probably have enlisted an extra security detail to be the ones that protected him personally.

There was a guard doing rounds along the corridor that they had been in when Perseus decided to take point. He held a silenced pistol in his right hand with a knife directly underneath it. His stance in particular made Artemis wonder exactly what he'd been serving in. He couldn't have been regular army, and it was evident that neither was his cousin, Jason. But then, she already knew that he wasn't a regular soldier, he was in the SEALS, both of them were and even so, Perseus reminded her of an old legend among the vast military network, a man that fit the time frame of when Perseus would have been serving.

She already knew that he was the legendary lone wolf that had survived, and accomplished, every single mission that he'd ever been on or accepted, but was it possible that the man standing before her right now, was in fact the soldier of misfortune?

A blur of darkness crossed Artemis' vision and before she could clock what had happened there was a crimson overcoat all over the wall opposite her and a dead body hitting the ground at her feet. She was shocked that she'd been so unfocused, and it obviously showed on her face. She felt a strong hand on the small of her back. She quickly turned to see Perseus with a stony expression, but not even he could be un-moving all the time, it was evident that she was starting to break down his defenses. "You ok?" He whispered to her as neutrally as he could, but for reasons that he didn't understand, he was actually slightly worried about the prospect of anything unnerving her.

"Yeah, I just zoned out for a moment there." Artemis responded as she mentally scolded herself. Perseus kept his hand on her for a moment longer and she was actually disappointed when he took it away, but obviously he was satisfied with her answer. Another few minutes and they would be close, oh so very close to their high valued target. Once they found out what project 'Trident' was and eliminated Kronos, they would bring the evidence to light for Zeus to confirm it, their partnership would be over and there would be no reason for Perseus to stick around… Unless he took her offer and merged himself with Artemis' company.

If he became a figurehead within Artemis' company, he'd never be short on work and she'd be able to fund his addiction for invention, that aside, he'd finally be able to finish the development on his older weapons, he may even be able to get Artemis to give him an entire R&D wing inside her building solely for him to complete his secret project, that one that would change everything.

Artemis knew that there was no way he would join her company as an underling. He would only ever give up his role as the legendary lone wolf Perseus Jackson if he was to become Artemis' direct company partner. Her elite mercenary if you will. She expected that he'd even go so far as to demand his own section within the company to build off of. A few random thoughts had struck her suddenly and she was certain that if Perseus hadn't been on point, that he would have seen her viciously blushing.

The company name, Artemis Jackson came to her but she suddenly realized that if she were to try and develop any kind of relationship with Perseus, that somewhere down the line that was what her name would become.

They worked as a team, silent yet responsive. They only needed to exchange a single glance before knowing exactly what was needed to be done. Let it be said that while they hadn't seen eye to eye with each other in the past, they made up the best co-operation team she had ever seen. Artemis and Jackson CO. She could get used to that, she was certain that her girls would eventually accept it as well, for they all knew exactly who Perseus Jackson was. It was no secret, if you were in the mercenary game, there was one name that always stayed at the top, and that name was Jackson.

Perseus held up his hand in a halting motion as they came to a set of grand double doors. "This is it. I can feel heavier footsteps. There's guards with reinforced kevlar. Which means that they're a different mercenary outfit. I'll storm the front, you're smaller than me so you can get into the overhead vents and perform an aerial attack while I charge. Go!" He harshly whispered to her as he continued to get into position next to the double doors. Stealth wasn't his favorite thing, and neither was assassinations, but it was all part of the job. Striking out in the dark only meant that his target didn't know who was killing him.

Perseus knocked on the door lightly to get their attention.

"Sir?" He heard someone question inside.

"I'm in position Percy." Artemis told him quietly.

"It's Perseus!" He boomed back quickly before kicking the doors wide open. A swift move of the knife in his hands and his attack had begun. A light grenade left his hand and blinded the room bar himself and the new addition that had dropped from the vents.

"It's Jackson! Stand true and he'll fall eventually!" He heard another voice inside this huge office call out.

"Yeah, that'll be the day!" Perseus shouted back as he pulled his custom AR out of it's sling and started to fire off very precisely controlled rounds that hit their mark each time. With Perseus and Artemis both in the zone and destroying the remainder of the security detail it didn't take them long at all before everyone was dead. Everyone save for the man they wanted dead.

Kronos stood defiantly. "No wonder you decimated my security. The lone wolf and the feminist working together. They never stood a chance." Kronos commented lightly. Kronos' gaze suddenly fell solely upon Perseus, "Yes, the lone wolf, or would you prefer the soldier of misfortune? You've got an impressive track record, over five hundred confirmed kills and all that surrounding a career that has included seven suicide missions where you've been the sole survivor, that's got to take it's toll on you, hasn't it?" Kronos grinned.

Perseus' eyes were shadowed over before he pulled his pistol free and let off a single shot that feel centimeters short of Kronos' now surprised face. There was a single line of concentrated burn damage across Kronos' lower cheek. The place where a bullet had whizzed past and singed him.

Kronos saw this as a perfect opportunity, he'd gotten under Perseus' skin. To think that it would take a mercenary Goddess partnered with the one and only soldier of misfortune to kill him. Kronos knew full well that if he so wanted, Perseus could have planned everything out and taken Kronos down while acting solo, so someone must really have wanted him dead to have hired Artemis herself at the same time. "So Jackson, are you going to kill me like a man, or like a bitch?" Kronos asked, taking a large obsidian black knife from his belt and shoved it straight down into the desk. Perseus locked eyes with their target. Whatever happened, Artemis could still shoot him and collect the bounty. He holstered his guns and gave them to Artemis. He took a knife from his belt and slammed it into the desk right alongside Kronos' knife.

Artemis could only watch intently, so he really was the soldier of misfortune as well as the legend he'd become despite his path? That was just, incredible.

"You want to die a warrior's death, so be it." Perseus growled as he quickly vaulted the table and slammed his foot into Kronos' throat and swept him off his feet. A brutal yet one sided fight had ensured where Perseus had time and again shown Kronos exactly how outmatched he was. The lone wolf gave the corporate Titan a beating that rendered him almost entirely void of energy but he did spare him enough to answer a few questions.

"Nobody knows exactly who was chosen for this mission, give me information of project 'Trident' and I will spare your life, there was never anything about an assassination in the job description." Perseus demanded, taking his knife out of Kronos' desk and holding it loosely in his hands, if he didn't comply then Perseus would kill him then and there. Artemis stood silent to it all, vigilantly watching their rear encase anyone decided to come and investigate the noise. She'd expected reinforcements sooner but maybe there wasn't anyone on the floors near them.

"Trident is a project that is solely responsible for the development of an experimental MIRV firing system, so basically, a Trident missile is the next generation of a fission bomb." Kronos' words caused Perseus to deadpan. In his heart, Kronos already knew that he was dead but he decided that if he had to die, then he wouldn't be bitter about it, not to the point of stopping the only people that were now capable of putting an end to the Trident program. It had all been beyond his power from the very beginning, he was just a figurehead, a puppet on the strings of someone much larger than himself after-all.

"What on earth is that?" Artemis asked, fear lacing her voice ever so slightly. It was Perseus' stature that got to her the most, cold and un-moving. There was no fear present in him but this resemblance to a statue was what she knew meant that he was on edge.

"THAT, is a next generation nuke." Perseus' words were blurred by his body moving faster than her eyes could see. She noticed that Kronos' knife was missing from the desk and instead had been firmly used to cut through the corporate Titan's head. Perseus offered no words as he silently pulled out a heavily weaved bag and put the head inside, that was what he would give Zeus as evidence that they had completed their mission. Without Kronos there was no company, and without the company there was no further investments towards Trident.

"Finally. Come on, we'll end up getting company if we stay any longer." Artemis sighed.

"Not yet, we need evidence. This will teach Zeus to make me pair up with people." Perseus stood and picked up Kronos' laptop, he'd get one of Zeus' guys to hack into it and retrieve ANYTHING related to Trident. Their work there was finally finished.

Perseus wiped the blood from Kronos' blade on the man's own jacket before looking it over, it was black with golden blotches of color in random places. "This is actually very nice, I'm keeping this." Perseus mused before the two of them made their escape back up to the roof where Jason would shortly be on hand with an escape helicopter.

 **Line Break**

"Ah my two favorite agents." Zeus held his hands wide from behind his comfy desk.

"Mercenaries." Perseus muttered automatically.

"How goes your mission?" He asked, turning to Artemis.

"Complete." Perseus interrupted before he slammed down a bag that was dripping with blood all over Zeus' desk. "Inside this bag lies Kronos' head." He said with a rather mischievous smile on show. He handed Zeus the laptop he'd retrieved, "Here's your evidence. The head is karma for making me pair up, I'm a lone wolf by choice Zeus, you know I don't work well with others." Perseus told him as he started to leave.

"Yes well. As that may be, you performed extremely well on this case. Don't count this as the last time I ask for both of you. You get results, and I like that. I'll forwards your payments to your accounts." Zeus told them both as he sat down again and attempted to get rid of the head. Artemis turned and saw that Perseus had already left the building.

She got there just in time. "So what happens now?" She asked as she got onto her almost identical bike. She was desperate to get an answer out of him right there or it may be the last time that she ever go the chance to do so.

"You've already asked me that." He grunted in response.

"But you never answered my question, or my offer." She told him.

"Hmm." There was a silence as he seemed to be considering it. "My place, you're buying dinner again." He told her before slamming his helmet's visor down and roaring down the road. Artemis knew that she'd never catch up on her bike. Pegasus was fast, but standard. Perseus' Blackjack had been given some serious engine upgrades.

Artemis groaned at the man that had left, but at least this time she knew exactly where she could get to a Chinese takeaway that was open this late. She sped down the road in the opposite direction to get there.

 **Line Break**

A simple knock on the door was all Perseus' heard but it was enough to rouse him out of his in-depth thoughts about how the mission had gone down.

"Do you like mushrooms?" Artemis asked as she walked in before he could say anything.

"No, you've already asked me this before." Perseus told her with a puzzled expression.

"I know, but you can actually pick them out this time, it's not mushroom soup." She told him casually as she set everything up.

Sitting by the table deep in thought, Perseus had a glass filled with what looked like water, until she noticed that almost empty bottle of vodka sitting next to him.

"You're starting a little early aren't you?" She asked him quickly with a raised eyebrow. Had he been like this since he'd gotten back? He'd been spaced out while they were getting back to the airfield where they'd left their motorcycles in order to get on Jason's plane but she didn't want to push it. Maybe he was bothered by how Kronos knew he was the soldier of misfortune.

"It's not that… I can't help but feel like there's something that we've forgotten about, that maybe this mission is going to come back and bite us on the ass." He quickly shrugged and downed the rest of his vodka. He'd been playing around with that new knife of his for quite a while before Artemis handed him a plate full of food.

"So about my offer. I'm not just offering a position within my company as a no name mercenary. You're a legend to everyone who's ever held a gun for personal profit. I'm willing to operate on a merger type of deal. You'd be at the head of the company, just like me." Artemis told him calmly and as casually as she could. What she was offering was huge, and to a single man as well.

"Artemis Jackson." Perseus whistled quietly. "Sounds impressive. I'd be a fool to pass up such an opportunity. Does that mean we're celebrating tonight?" He asked as he reached under the table and brought out a sealed bottle of vodka.

"Indeed it does." She grinned, knowing exactly where she was going to put the next set of scratches on his body. "Indeed it does." She repeated but only softer. She'd made a great choice in deciding to give him a chance. It had all started with them being rivals but now she was starting to think that she didn't quite mind ending up back at his apartment after a tough mission, drinking copious amounts of alcohol and then fucking until daylight.

There was something else there though, underneath the primal lust that they had for each other, there was something akin to... A heartbeat that arose sharply whenever they saw each other. What did that mean?

 **A/N: Review?**


	6. Chapter 6 - The Rundown

**Chapter 6 – The Rundown**

Weeks went by with Perseus becoming a partner in Artemis' Hunters which had to change its name to the Artemis Jackson CO, something that Artemis had actually loved, not that she'd ever admit that in front of Perseus. Nothing official happened between the two of them, but there was always a day here and there when neither could be found. Everything was calm for the most part, Perseus went on those ridiculously dangerous missions and always returned with high rewards and new fame for the company. The two biggest names in the mercenary business were now working together. Zeus was ecstatic as this meant that he could now deal directly with Artemis and by her rights, she could assign Perseus to those missions.

Sitting down in his office, yes, Perseus now had an office, he opened a new email prompt, hoping that it was from Artemis, but as of lately, she was taking every opportunity to come and see him. To give him a new mission or to just tell him random news, she knew that he couldn't resist her when she tried her best to be seductive, and many times she had gotten what she wanted, in the form of him locking the door and fucking her right over his desk. It was her new favorite past time.

The email read the sender as a 'Gaea'. "Seriously, what's up with all of these awful names?" Perseus asked out loud, unknowingly to be heard by the ears of Artemis herself. She walked into his office and shut the door behind her. The click of the lock was heard easily by Perseus' above average perception. At this point, he knew exactly what that meant. Artemis walked over to his desk and placed her hands on it, patiently waiting for him to give her his attention. She stared at him while slouched in his chair, pen flickering between his teeth as he read the email. After a moment of silence, he knew that she wasn't about to go away.

"Artemis?" He questioned without taking his eyes away from his computer screen, he had started out determined not to give in but Artemis was easily just as stubborn as he was.

"Perseus." She responded just as calmly, still keeping her intense gaze locked upon him. He sighed, giving in to her after what seemed like an age. He continued to read through his email but he would at the very least acknowledge her presence.

"What can I do for you?" He asked her, keeping up his ignorance to what she truly wanted. He was engrossed in that email which was becoming worse and worse the more he read on. It seemed that the Kronos mission really was coming back to bite them on the ass.

"Fuck me. Right now." She demanded, her hands already moving to undo the buttons on her crisp white shirt. When she was in the office, she was dressed to be an immaculate business woman, it was a different story for nearly all other things she'd be needed for.

"As it just so happens, I can't. You should probably read this, it seems that Kronos really was just a puppet on strings, this chick seems pretty pissed off that we've meddled in her plans." He told her as he turned his computer screen around so that she could read it just as easily as he had. She grudgingly gave up on getting her lust sated and instead turned her focus to what was more important that sex. Her eyes scanned the words and she knew that he was right, this couldn't be ignored.

"That's not good." She admitted.

"Yeah, it seems that the Kronos job set events in motion. They're smart as well, instead of going after the contractor, they're going after the only people that were capable of completing the job, which means that if they get to us first, then they can in turn take out the only people who can finish THEM off. Artemis, this needs to be top priority, this is literally a warning for us." Perseus explained quickly.

"Alright, this is bigger than Kronos though, we can't do this with just the two of us. We need to get together some allies." She told him with a stern look. Thought flickered across his face as he gently stroked the stubble on his face.

"I've already got a team of possibilities. I know for a fact that they've all got experience with this sort of thing, they'll come in handy." Perseus explained.

"Who?" Artemis was caught off by his almost instant preparations for this situation.

"Before I became a lone wolf, I was part of the group known as the Seven, if I call, then they will help me. Annabeth Chase, an expert mercenary as they all are with her specialty lying in the domains of hacking and technical systems. If the structure has them, she can disable them." Artemis didn't like the way he'd said her name, she suspected that there was some sort of previous romance between them.

"Jason Grace, he was our pilot for the Kronos job. My cousin will always come to my aid." Artemis nodded when he continued, Jason wasn't an unknown element. He'd been precise and prompt on their airdrop over Manhattan, she would happily include him in this next mission. Artemis realized that for the most part, she'd be doing their mission planning right now, so she took a seat on the other side of Perseus' desk.

"Piper McLean. She doesn't look like an assassin, but her looks can literally kill, don't underestimate her." Artemis knew perfectly well that women shouldn't be underestimated, especially beautiful ones. She suddenly had a slight remembrance of an old assassin called Aphrodite who worked from her charm and seduction techniques, she wondered if the two could be connected somehow.

"Hazel Lévesque. Expert in entry, she'll most likely be able to get us in unnoticed underground, like a whole team of us, she's that good." Artemis was in shock. A whole team into a structure undetected was almost unheard of. They would just have to see how fine her skills really were, especially if this team of his was growing in size at such a rate.

"Let's see, whose next? Frank Zhang, the guy is literally a case of walking warfare, I've seen him take bullets and carry on like nothing's happened. He'll be vital when the fighting starts, nothing will get past that tank." They both knew only too well just how good it was to have someone like that when the situation goes south. To have a combat vet was good, but if PERSEUS was giving someone praise like that, then she knew that they had earned it, especially from someone that had led the kind of life that he had, the soldier of misfortune that belonged to the SEALS and the legendary wolf.

"Lastly but not least, Leo Valdez. I haven't spoken to Leo in years but I now his skills will still be sharp. He's an excellent marksman out in the field, often opting for long ranged weapons, but his specialties are in his amazing mechanics and demolition expertise. He'll be able to fix any compromises that we might face in this mission and probably blow up any obstacles. Any questions?" Perseus asked her, giving her some time to get over what he had explained.

"Yes, I know of Valdez." Artemis told him, her look was complacent and she subconsciously sucked her lips with displeasure at the name. Perseus could only chuckle at that, of course HE would be the one that Artemis took issue with. The manic mechanic was the one who had done the most irresponsible shit in the years that the Seven had been broken up for.

"Your team seems water tight. Gather them, we need to get this mission started as soon as possible. Gaea and this 'Tartarus' won't wait around until we're ready to strike." Artemis told him before going to walk out of the door. She stopped and turned halfway before thinking about something, her finger elegantly placed against her chin. She walked back over to Perseus before grabbing him and forcing their lips together. "I will get what I want, but obviously now isn't working for you." She smirked before strutting back out again, leaving the stunned Perseus to make some well needed phone calls.

Ten hours later and Perseus was driving down a long dirt road with Artemis beside him in an old beat up rental car. They were entering the Rundown, a small part of Texas that held nothing but waste and barren land, at least that's what the untrained eye saw. To Perseus he saw an entrance hidden within the ruins of an old junkyard. Again, most people just saw an abandoned scrapyard, Perseus saw the whole place wired up like a festival, he personally counted thirty four sets of wires connected to fiber optics that would alert anyone to his presence.

Deciding that given the situation, he wasn't likely to find anyone above ground, he made his way over to the least destroyed car in the junkyard, and old flatbed truck that had no wheels and was seemingly welded to the ground. He lifted the bonnet and found a set of extremely steep stairs that led the way into an unfitting series of tunnels that opened up into a huge garage.

"Valdez!" Perseus called out, his voice echoing with how unsure he was that he'd actually find who he wanted.. He knew what kind of things the crazy bombs expert could come up with. There was sure to be defenses set about the place.

"If you're here to kill me, you should probably know… You'll never take me alive you assassin sum bitch!" Leo rolled into view with a pistol in his hands but fortunately recognized the man in front of him. There was a heavy sweat that dropped down Leo's head as he realized that he almost put a round in Perseus, something that he would GREATLY regret doing. That would be a very painful path to go down.

"Perce? Shit man, you should have said something. What can the manic mechanic do for you brother?" He asked him as he holstered his pistol. It was clear to Artemis that every part of the Seven were combat veterans despite what their specialty was.

"I'm putting together a team. I've got a huge job in Dubai, the pay will be shit, but there are powerful people out to kill me. Meet Artemis, she was the head of the Artemis' hunter's mercenary company, until I came along." Perseus grinned. Leo caught on quickly.

"Oh, I heard about some sort of merger between two legendary mercs. I don't keep up with much these days but sometimes something will slip the net, I bet anything Chase would know about it though. So who's the group? We getting the old guys back together? One last rodeo, that sort of thing?" Leo grinned. Artemis could see why he was called the manic mechanic.

"Yes Valdez, we are. The Seven won't just be the seven of us anymore but we'll figure that out some other time. I take it you're in?" Perseus turned back to Leo. He knew that Leo would be up for it, he never could pass up a challenge

"Of course I'm in. Who else are we getting?" Leo asked. He motioned for them to follow him deeper into the underground facility. He was probably going to be building some sort of super weapon, it was past one o clock after all.

"Grace is in. I'm going to get you to ask Chase if all of our other options fail. Zhang won't pass up a good firefight, and I think McLean turned to the modeling business but she's never been one to let friends down, she'll help us. I've already spoken to Lévesque, she said that she's up for it if we are. If we are all here then that makes eight of us. Plus Artemis' lieutenant, Thalia Grace, Jason's little sister believe it or not. It seems warfare runs in their family." Perseus chuckled.

"Which means a nine man team, you not over that?" Leo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know me Valdez, I don't like odd numbers for teams, which means getting one more person." Perseus explained. Leo and Perseus sat down at a work bench deep in thought.

"You don't think…" Perseus and Leo looked up at the same time, obviously coming to the same conclusion.

"You reckon Grim will help us?" Leo asked incredulously.

"Who's Grim?" Artemis interrupted.

"My other cousin. Nico Di Angelo. He's an assassin. But nobody knows of him because, you know, he does his job better than everybody else. Nobody knows who he is or how to get a hold of him, except us obviously. But he has a flair for the dramatic, he has a calling card. 'Grim Reaper'. It's fitting because he's never failed a mission before." Perseus explained.

"So why not get him to be your last man?" Artemis asked.

"Because I think he's who Gaea has hired to take us out." Perseus frowned. He knew that Nico would never take a job against him or any of the seven, but if he was unaware of the target, then it's possible that people could get hurt before they could get to Nico.

As if his words were a deadly prompt, Perseus' phone lit up with a silent calling screen.

"Be quiet." Perseus motioned before answering.

"Hello?" He began, squinting ever so slightly as he focused on the phone call, "Speaking." Perseus continued to have the conversation as he placed the phone on loudspeaker.

"Somebody wants you dead Jackson." The voice continued to come through.

"I know, I got the memo. Who is this?" Perseus continued, sounding hardly bothered by the threat this person presented.

"Come now Perseus, you don't even recognize your cousin? You were just speaking about me after all." Nico laughed from the phone. Leo started to panic.

"Calm down Valdez, I don't have your undergrounds bugged, I've just got a wicked thermal scope on you, it actually lets me lip read rather well. So yeah, Gaea wants you dead. I took the contract because they paid me half up front, boy is she going to be pissed when she figures out that I'm now a part of your team." Nico sighed casually, this would no doubt be the first time that he'd ever accepted a mission without ever delivering on killing the intended target.

"Well I guess that settles that. Come on down Nico, we've still got to establish a link to the others. And if we pull off this job well enough then Gaea won't know that you've turned. She'll be dead before she even knows we're there." Perseus hung up his phone.

"So who's next?" Leo asked. They exchanged a glance before Perseus sighed.

"Fine, guess we'll have to get Chase on it." Perseus threw his hands up in defeat. He didn't like working with Annabeth anymore, not after their last mission before the Seven split. But that was old news, news that hopefully she had gotten over as well. If she hadn't, their briefing would sure to be very awkward indeed.

Several hours later and the whole team was on it's way to their final briefing, one last mission. When Perseus had told Valdez the pay would be terrible he made sure to mention that the targets were tycoons in Dubai no less. If Chase could reroute their underground funds that were in cohorts with Kronos' Trident investments, then they would have a sizable rewards that nobody would be able to trace. A job well done, and a payment deserved.

The first to arrive to Valdez' Mexico compound was Chase. She got there in a rental flatbed truck outfitted with a load of equipment that she got Leo and Nico to offload. Next came Artemis who had agreed to meet up with Thalia and bring her back to Leo's compound, closely followed by Jason. Perseus stood watch over the compound and surrounding desert areas. There was no way that Gaea would have a trace on the rest of them, not a chance in Hades.

A voice broke through his headset alerting him to something new. "Perseus I need you in here." Annabeth was the one who owned the voice. Perseus groaned loudly before sighing and jumping down from the air hangar two hundred meters west of the underground facility. He didn't bother to grant her a response other than that.

Once he'd finally gotten through the doors to where Annabeth had been setting up her gear he felt the familiar sensation of cold steel pressed to his throat. She was going a bit over the top with it but he didn't question any more than he normally would. A small trickle of hot blood made it's way down his neck as he looked on in defiance.

"All this time and you finally bring us back in? All this time and not even a single phone call?" She hissed at him. So... Obviously she hadn't gotten over I, no matter, he would just make it brutally clear what his relationship status was these days. There were plenty of spare rooms in this bunker and he doubted that the walls were very thick. If they didn't realize it already, they sure as hell would later.

"The group had to split. You know it as well as I do. And don't give me that bullshit, you were even less bothered about it than I was." Perseus responded coldly, not even bothering to look at the much smaller woman before him. She'd changed a lot since he'd last seen her but he was willing to wager that he'd changed even more since the Seven all went their separate ways.

"You two need to stop fighting." Piper announced as she walked in, making her presence known. "I didn't cancel the best photo-shoot of the year and come all the way to Leo's crummy bunker-"

"I heard that!" Leo's voice echoed from a hallway further in the underground complex. He was promptly ignored by everyone.

"-just to have you two kill each other." Piper's voice cut in. When did she get here? No matter, Piper had a natural way with words and always seemed to get people to see the best option to explore.

"Fine, we'll settle this after." Annabeth retorted as she holstered her knife and went back to working with her computers. Perseus turned to Piper with a knowing glance. "Leo has revealed a dojo of sorts. The boys are prepping it up now. You might want to head down there. I think Artemis is there as well." Piper explained. Perseus nodded and decided to at least check it out, if nothing else then he'd be able to get in some solid training.

As he made his way down the halls of the compound he found himself face to face with his cousin Nico before they both walked into what looked more like a dungeon than a dojo but it would serve the same purpose when everything was cleared and the lighting was fixed. Sure enough everyone had finally gotten to the training room and it was more or less just a tournament of who was the toughest. Needless to say that when it came down to it, the final two opponents were Jason and Perseus. Both now drenched in sweat and neither one having a need for their shirts any longer. The women of the room blushed when Jason got his chest out but they went weak at the knees when Perseus went topless. His rigid and tense muscles bulged out of the tight wet skin and his scars were evident all over his back.

Artemis felt a smug sense of satisfaction when she noticed Annabeth wide eyed at the recent nail marks on his lower back. She caught Artemis' glance and felt a furious jealously burning inside of her when Artemis was seemingly inspecting her nails, her weapon of choice against the canvas that Perseus' back had become. Artemis could only smirk with a deep satisfaction at seeing Annabeth's burning jealousy. So there was clearly a past history between them yet Perseus was as indifferent to her as he would have been to a random civilian on the street, Artemis liked that, a lot.

Soon enough the two Navy SEALS were at each other's throats. This was the most intense fight of the day and eventually they had to call for a tie because the fight would just continue to go on for too long.

"Right. There's a lot to do tomorrow and I'm planning on leaving early to get the plane in here and ready for the green-light to get us to Dubai so I suggest you all get some sleep. Lights out in ten." Jason and Leo explained. Of course that meant that everyone would just be doing their own thing. Thalia was able to get her own room because once Piper had let slip that she fully intended on rekindling an old romance that she had with Jason, a room was freed up. Artemis was sneaky and decided that she was going to be in Perseus' room despite the possibility of Thalia figuring them out. A few hours later and nobody had been able to sleep, but that was purely Perseus and Artemis' fault.

He quickly left his room to go and see about getting a shower and was shocked to find everyone was already awake and in the central room all eating from several large pizza boxes. "About time you stopped." Leo smirked quickly as they all looked at a now slightly embarrassed Perseus who was topless once again and covered in a glistening sheen of sweat. Rough marks were adorning his entire body and there were even fresh cuts that had drawn blood littered across his entire body.

"We're having a short intermission. Sorry guys but no sleep for you tonight." Percy winked at them before grabbing a couple of slices of pizza and continuing down the hallway. Well, now that the awkward part was over, they could all focus on taking down Gaea and Tartarus. Their mission would begin in the next twelve hours. He knew he needed sleep, but with Artemis lying in his bed naked and waiting for him, he just couldn't prioritize the way he knew he should. He knew what he wanted to do but that it wasn't the smart thing to do. He also knew exactly what he'd be doing regardless of what he SHOULD be doing, namely, using Artemis' thighs as earmuffs.

 **A/N: Review?**


	7. Chapter 7 - The Shakedown

**Chapter 7 – The Shakedown**

"Let's go!" Jason hissed. He wasn't happy that he had to fly on such little sleep, but given the reason he was awake, he knew that he'd get over it pretty soon. Piper was worse for wear that morning, and on the rare occasion, had decided to go without bothering to do any makeup but they were on a stealth mission after all so she shouldn't have to put anything on.

Annabeth, as per, was glaring daggers into the back of Perseus' skull, not sparing Artemis any kindness either. Thalia, as per, was grating Artemis about how she could stoop so low as to be caught red handed with Perseus, her cousin of all people to which the leader of the hunters quite neatly parried with how she knew Thalia was rubbernecking men that came into the offices. The Hunter was abruptly silenced after Artemis' argument destroying point.

A few hours later and they were in the air, it was nearly a sixteen hour flight from Texas to Dubai though, so they still had plenty of time to finalize their plans. Just like with the Kronos job there was an extra presence that they had to pinpoint as soon as possible. Tartarus, a man of renown according to Nico, someone who dubbed the title of assassin but worked for filthy blood money. He was the kind of man that would take on any mission regardless of its parameters like a dark version of Perseus.

"Yo Perce, what's the plan?" Valdez asked him as he stood up and took his dog tags off of the rack near the cockpit. They had stayed there from the very last mission that they'd all done. Of course, Perseus' had gone with him as he was the only one who remained in the mercenary business, but apart from that, they had all been there. The idea was that the dog tags of the fallen warriors would remain on the rack forever. Of course, when the seven had split up, they had put them there as a sign that they never expected to be returning to this walk of life.

Nico noticed Perseus' gaze that rested heavily on the dog tags. "Jang-a-lang, jang-a-lang." Nico whispered next to his cousin. Nico could tell that his older cousin was bothered by this mission, its dangers were untold but that had never been a worry for Perseus. Nico got the sneaking suspicion that Perseus didn't expect to make it out of this mission alive. Thalia walked over and rested her hand on Perseus' shoulder and Jason came over mere seconds after, reassuring Perseus that they all had his back.

It was HIS mission but it was also his life on the line and none of them were prepared to let him walk into Hell, at least not alone. The Grace's were going to be by his side through thick and thin and whether anyone else could sense his presence, Nico was always watching like a dark guardian angel. Perseus Jackson was the soldier of misfortune after all but there was no way that he was about to let any of the team go down like teams of his harrowing past.

"Don't worry, we'll get through this." Jason smiled but it was a sad smile, his grip on Perseus' shoulder tightened and was more reassuring than his words. The pilot returned to the cockpit to oversee their transition through the air once more. From the side of the plane, Artemis gave Perseus a solemn nod, she knew what he was thinking and she'd be damned if after everything they'd been through that she was going to lose him now.

"That's the deadliest family in the cosmos." Frank pointed out. Piper and Hazel couldn't help but laugh.

"One cousin is an assassin so deadly that nobody knows of him. One cousin is an ex-Navy SEAL and Top Gun pilot. Another cousin is a commander for an accomplished mercenary company and the final cousin is the most legendary mercenary ever." Hazel chuckled lightly. The awkward atmosphere inside the plane seemed to disappear, but Perseus knew only too well how easily something could go south.

With one final glance over to the dog tags he muttered the most important sentence ever heard amongst combat veterans, "Jang-a-lang, jang-a-lang." The dog tags that were left on the rail seemed to mirror his response as they all clanged together, a reminder of the souls that had been lost in the past. Now that Leo had retrieved his tags, everyone from the seven were wearing theirs and the only ones left were those that belonged to people that had sacrificed their lives for the sake of the mission. It weighed heavily on his heart and his emotions were as plain as day.

Artemis had never even though him capable of having such emotions but it was clear that when it came down to his brothers in arms, Perseus wasn't the cold hearted lone wolf but instead a caring man who was determined to ensure the safety of anyone under his command, even if it meant giving up his own life.

How many times had that man thrown away everything and put himself in situations where he was literally on death's door? He was the solider of misfortune because of the numerous times he'd been the sole survivor when things had gone south but nothing had yet been able to completely kill the man off. Death wasn't ready to face Perseus Jackson.

 **Line Break.**

"Cruising over Dubai at ten thousand feet." Jason's voice came on over the intercom. Everyone saw this as their signal to gear up. Perseus had gone with the basics. Black combat trousers and boots accompanied by a waist belt that held numerous different pouches. And to top it off he had a completely black tactical vest, but to put that on he'd taken off everything else. Every pair of female eyes were on him aside from Thalia who was too busy looking down at the ground passing by them.

"OK, the idea is to parachute down the western side of Gaea's compound. Once we're inside the tower, the team that will go in from the underground will be given the green-light to infiltrate the water filtration facility at the far end of the highway that runs parallel to the compound itself. You can quickly cover ground once in the cleaning pipes and soon you'll be underneath the compound." Perseus started to explain. The team had been split into two, five with Perseus, four with Hazel and Jason was to land the plane at the airfield and get to his destination that overlooked the entire city. Once there he would be able to give sniper support during the mission should they need it. His role was more to ensure that both teams evacuated at the same time and if things went south for this mission he was going be on hand with an escape chopper in minutes.

"Anyone not clear on what they need to do?" Perseus asked them quickly, looking around. Nobody spoke up. With that, Perseus was happy and decided to wait for the green-light for the first group to get ready to parachute out. Perseus was leading the first group directly which consisted of himself, Artemis, Thalia, Nico and Annabeth. Three mercenaries, an assassin and a tech genius. They were taking the direct path, thus needing the extra fire support. Nico would be able to easily traverse any and all obstacles in their path, and Annabeth would easily overcome anything technical, their team was watertight with mobility and their skill with overcoming defense systems.

The second team was a tightly woven unit comprised of Frank and Leo as the main fighters, Leo could operate a small knowledge of tech but if anything too advanced came up, he'd have to compromise with what he had, which was often way too many explosives. Hazel was their real tech expert but it was mainly for gaining entry underground and such. Piper was almost excessively accurate and if she could also fly a plane, then she would have been the sniper support instead of Jason, but that wasn't the case, therefore she would be ground-side, working the secondary fire team. Jason was technically part of team two, but just in a different location, he was also in charge of making sure their joint rendezvous to the airfield was smooth.

Almost as soon as everyone was settled into their gear the first green-light buzzed loudly and Perseus took charge, "Good luck everyone, make sure you're all on point for this mission because if any of you die then I'm coming straight to Hell to drag your sorry asses out." He announced before pulling a balaclava down over his face and jumping out of the airplane, diving through the air at ridiculous speeds towards the tallest of three towers that sat amid a huge valley like area of low story buildings littered about the place. It was almost like a small village of sorts with three huge thrones jutting out of the front. Luckily despite how much money this company had, they were still in a civilian area and could not be permitted any automated air or ground defenses, not that it would have mattered with Leo infiltrating the compound from underground.

Team two would emerge inside one of the buildings on the southern side of the complex, while team one stormed the far right tower at the northern side of the complex. If they done it correctly, then nobody would ever know they were here and they would be off without any more people trying to find them. "Go time." Perseus muttered to himself as he shot through the sir like a bullet towards the tower he KNEW held his target, Gaea.

 **It only took a few minutes before all of team one had landed on the roof of the tower without having their stealth broken. There had been a number of sentries posted there but they had all been taken out with minimal precise shots, half of which had come from Nico, the other half straight from Perseus. Once they were all on the roof, they hooked themselves up to the side of the building and waiting for team two to get in position. "You guys all there yet?" He asked over the radio that sat comfortably on his shoulder, it was plugged directly into the earpiece that coiled around his head. It was the only way he wasn't losing it after a parachute entry.**

 **There was a few minutes of silence before a response came back, "Team two in position, waiting for your go." Hazel answered him quietly, it seemed that she wasn't immensely happy with her current location but he couldn't blame her. She was an expert underground but that didn't change the fact that he'd made her task rather morbid by having her march half a mile through a sewer to get to her checkpoint.**

"Enjoy the sewers Valdez." Percy commented over the radio. There was a shuffle in the background before Leo responded. Perseus could already tell just by the fact that Leo was replying at all that the manic mechanic was harboring a huge grin.

"I'd take the sewers over being with my ex and my current girlfriend any day Jackson." Leo responded with a chuckle before the radio cut off. Even while traversing the side of a skyscraper, Perseus could literally feel the burning hatred emanating from Annabeth's cold grey eyes. "Prick." Perseus muttered over the radio before cutting it entirely. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Annabeth was almost seething with hatred towards him and by extension, Artemis. From the other side, he could see Artemis smiling quite happily, that was what she loved hearing. Ignoring the sensation of eyes boring into him, Perseus finally managed to get into position on the windows of the correct floor. Annabeth lined up on one side and Artemis and Thalia were on his other side. Nico was... Somewhere? They were a thousand feet up at least and Nico was still hidden.

"Nico!" Perseus whispered harshly, desperately looking around to find him. All Perseus seemed to be able to see was Nico's line casually swaying in the wind. He hadn't fallen, there was no way, so where the Hades had he gone?

"What?" He heard his cousin's annoyed voice literally right above him. That was when he noticed Grim's small outline, sticking to the shadows reflected outwards by the windows. There was little light as it was but it always seemed like the darkness naturally shrouded around Nico.

"Stop hiding!" Perseus responded quickly in a hushed hiss. This was NOT the time to be doing that unseen thing, it could wait until they were at least inside the tower.

"I wasn't?" Nico told him in confusion. He genuinely wasn't attempting to be stealthy at all, not just yet. But he was so adept to being sneaky that he was able to beat the impeccable senses of these combat veterans without even trying. Perseus felt sorry for all of his contracted targets, they would never really have a chance against the Angel of Death.

"Fine, whatever. This is our entry point. Everyone create your window." Perseus whispered softly. They all immediately got out a number of tools then silently went about creating large circles to be cut straight from the windows. Each plasma cutter had about thirty seconds of decent charge so the windows were a rush job in total, but Nico held a spare in case anyone had run out before their windows were formed. Silently the group all moved into the building. One by one they all rendezvoused in the central room where Perseus and Nico had gained entry.

"Team two what's your status?" Perseus asked them now that team one was in position and ready to start their assault.

"Awaiting your signal team one." Hazel's voice responded calmly. That meant they were directly beneath them by about a thousand feet and waiting to storm into the small village of houses that had been built directly on Gaea and Tartarus' skyscraper compound. The property was theirs completely, they could do what they liked, but Perseus couldn't help but feel it would have been easier to just build another tower to house staff. It wasn't like they were lacking in funds at all.

"You have the green light team two. We're about to start our assault. Give it ten minutes and all staff will be converging on our location. We're on the hundred and fifty second floor. When you get in, eliminate ground-side resistance and seal off the tower. Work your way up floor by floor. We'll see you soon, good hunting team two." Perseus told them before cutting off the radio.

"So what's our plan?" Nico asked him curiously.

"Basically hold off until they get here, having worked their way up the tower. Annabeth, once the fighting starts and we've established a safe place to operate, you need to cut off power to the entire building. We'll switch to our night vision and split into two teams. Nico, Thalia and Annabeth, you guys take one stairwell and eliminate any tangos that try to get in. Myself and Artemis will take the other stairwell and do the same. Remember to always check your targets. It won't take long for team two to work through one hundred and fifty floors. Remember, they have the vitals scanner. I'll keep the radio channels open so that we can actively relay information." Perseus told them all confidently. There was a reason that both he and Jason were natural leaders.

"Team two, one final thing. We're going to be holed up waiting for you to join us, and most likely shooting at anything coming through the doors to the stairwells. Give us a warning when you're on floor one fifty. Over." Perseus spoke into his radio once more. He received an acknowledgment before leaving the channel open for anymore communications.

"Let's do this then." He began as he cocked his gun and stood up, this was the part of the job that he enjoyed

"Loud and proud?" Nico asked him. Receiving a grin from the considerably taller cousin.

"All guns blazing." Perseus confirmed as he ran towards the door that led to the hallways and burst off a few rounds, effectively getting the attention of every guard in the building. The other four members of team one sprawled out around him, covering the hallway intersection expertly. Their tactics allowed them to cover every aspect of this floor while Annabeth worked on the main power line. Cutting it electronically in less than a minute.

"If you want to announce anything to the tower, you've got one chance now before I eliminate every communications output aside from our own radios." Annabeth told Perseus as she tapped him on the shoulder, offering him the small microphone that she'd managed to patch into their systems, she knew he was one to add a bit of dramatic flair onto things at the best of times.

"Hmm, not bad." He muttered before taking hold of the microphone. Just what did she mean by announce to the tower? He was about to find out either way. "This is Perseus Jackson." He spoke loud and true, his voice echoing over the entire tower. It probably had far more effect as they'd cut almost all power only seconds before. "Gaea, I'm coming for you." He handed the microphone back to Annabeth who unplugged the entire thing before switching off every source of power in the building. There was no doubt an emergency generator that would soon bring the upper floors back online with power so they had to move fast in order to make the most out of the discord they'd caused.

"Switch to night vision." Perseus ordered and within seconds they did so. A brief moment of silence before they heard the gunfire of team two, well over a hundred floors below them.

"Status?" Perseus asked without bothering to look back. He didn't dare take his eyes off of the hallway that he was working through. The earpiece he had in was attuned just to team one, while the radio on his shoulder was set for team two.

"Golden. Floor is clear, moving to stairwells." Annabeth confirmed, the angry tone in her voice was significantly lesser, there was no way that she could be both angry at Perseus and focused on the mission, and she refused to die because she couldn't let go of a grudge, so for the time being, he was off the hook. Perseus nodded casually and made a swift hand motion for Artemis to follow him. A few seconds later and they were both at the southern stairwell.

"Status?" Perseus asked once more.

"In position." Thalia told him. Then the tangos started to file up and down the stairs. Gaea and Tartarus were really sending everything they had to take them down. Everything was going fine until a booming voice echoed throughout the stairwell that Perseus and Artemis were guarding.

"Oh yes, feel free to come into my home and start shooting my guards, after all it's what you did to my son!" The hateful voice of Tartarus echoed throughout the building.

"It was just business, nothing personal. Tartarus I assume? Wait, did you say he was your son?" Perseus responded. Everything was quiet this end of the tower and he had no idea why.

"He wasn't of my loins but I raised the boy and taught him everything he knew. He was my son through a matter of pride and principle, and you killed him, so I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart, Jackson." Tartarus spat back. "Turn on the backup generators!" Tartarus' booming voice held such dark authority. A moment later the light had burnt through the highly sensitive goggles that they were all wearing.

"Ahh! Retinas! Seared like tuna steaks!" Perseus screamed in angst as he quickly ripped the ultra sensitive eyewear away from his face. He cursed something in a language that nobody recognized as he rubbed his eyes vigorously.

A voice burst through the radios that worried Perseus to no end, "Perseus we need assistance, Leo dived in front of a shot that would have hit Frank. He's losing blood fast, get down here Perseus!" Piper demanded.

"Oh go ahead, take the elevator, the power's back on after all." Tartarus grinned. Now that Perseus had finally seen him, he could tell that this was going to be a tough fight.

"Shit. Annabeth, you and Nico take the elevator down to team two, assist them in any way possible. Artemis, go and reinforce the second stairwell with Thalia." Perseus grunted through gritted teeth.

"What about you?" Artemis responded quickly. The worry in her face was evident, she had her gun constantly trained on Tartarus and she could have ended it all straight away but HIS word was final and he had a very prideful sense of principality. He HAD been the one to kill Kronos so in fighting against his father, he would at least allow the man to choose how they fought among themselves to the death, it was only fair.

"Unless I'm mistaken, it looks like Tartarus wants to do things the old fashioned way." Perseus grinned, taking off his utility belt that held all of his various pockets of ammunition, pulling out Kronos' blade from the back of his pocket he squared up to the intimidating frame of the cold blooded killer in front of him. To Artemis it was like looking at two sides of the same coin. Tartarus was an impeccable representation of everything dark inside Perseus' soul.

"You'd be correct Perseus. One shall stand-" Tartarus began, pulling out his own knife. It was the exact same jagged shape as Kronos' except this one was blood red tinted with what looked like sulfuric brimstone.

"-and one shall fall." They both quickly converged on each other, teeth bared and blades in hand. It was sure to be one Hades of a fight but no one else was going to be capable of taking Tartarus down, this was something that Perseus HAD to do in order to keep the mission going. He wasn't sure whether or not he'd be surviving this but he knew that soon enough, one of them would be lying in a pool of their own blood, or worse.

 **A/N: Review?**


	8. Chapter 8 - The Falldown

**Chapter 8 – The Falldown**

The blood was everywhere and it was in droves, it became hard to tell who it even belonged to. The harrowing memory of what had just happened would stick with Perseus for the rest of his life. Some of the blood belonged to him, no doubt, but Tartarus' entire body had been plastered against the four metal walls of the elevator shaft.

Being a Navy SEAL, Perseus had endured torture, and he had seen some of his closet friends, his brothers in arms, being torn apart and killed in the most gruesome of ways, but what he'd just seen would haunt his mind for the rest of his days.

When Artemis had left the two of them, they had locked horns in a knife fight. Perseus was skilled, but Tartarus was something else entirely. Perseus knew that things were not in his favor when Tartarus had disarmed him with a simple flick of the wrist. A few seconds later a foot long blade had penetrated his left forearm all the way through, but Perseus was a fighter, he countered with his fists and yanked the knife free, sending the blade sailing down the hallway.

They were back on even ground, despite Perseus' bleeding knife wound. They fought with tooth and claw all the way through the floor of offices that they were on. They must have been in the company's financial section. The fight continued until they were both blood and bruised and ended up near the open elevator shaft.

With one swift kick, Perseus sent Tartarus sprawling down into the elevator shaft. Unfortunately one of the cable cars was two floors beneath them, and Tartarus landed somewhat softly. Perseus grunted as he grabbed onto a stray cable and followed his enemy into the shaft. What happened next was both a blur yet at the same time insanely detailed to Perseus.

Perseus didn't know what had made him do it, but his mind had gone into overdrive and instincts had taken over. He lay down a massive beating on Tartarus and forced him into the slacked wires that rested lazily next to the ones that held up the elevator car they were fighting on. In another swift movement, Perseus had pulled Tartarus' second knife free from his belt and swung with all of his might, snapping it straight into the cables that held their own lift in the air.

A snapping of cables was heard before Tartarus' scream. The scream would never escape Perseus' mind, for it was horrifying. He had just caused a man to be ripped apart inch by inch. Tartarus' body had exploded because of the insane pressure that had been put on it. Blood had coated the walls and Perseus. The blood was everywhere.

Perseus hung limply with one hand, his good hand on the end of the cable he'd severed. Above him he could see the light from the open elevator doors from where they'd come from. Somewhere up on that floor were his allies, if he could haul himself up then he could get one of them to take a look at his arm which was not being helped by gravity.

"Perseus!? What the fuck was that? We were coming up in the elevator when we heard a huge bang and one of the other elevators went rocketing past us." Frank's worry was thick in his voice. Perseus took a moment to breathe before climbing back out of the open doors two floors up form where he was.

"Yeah. I sustained a minor injury but hey, Tartarus is dead. Rendezvous on my floor, I'd appreciate a little medical attention if possible." Perseus explained. There was an eerie silence as Perseus continued to climb. As he got out of the elevator shaft he found himself at eye level with a pair of outstanding silver iris'.

"Hello there." He almost purred as he sat against a solid wall. Thankful that he had the opportunity to take a breather for once.

"Don't do that again." Artemis warned him. He knew that she was trying to hold herself together for him if not for the mission, but he didn't say anything or push his luck because truly he felt the same way about her being in danger.

"I think this whole partnership has taken itself further than we expected." He muttered with a chuckle. Artemis shot him a knowing glance and a sad smile.

"You know, if we don't all get out alive, I wanted to tell you… Artemis I think I l-" Perseus never got to finish his sentence as a delirious Leo Valdez burst through the doors of the elevator.

"WAZZZUUUUUP!?" He laughed maniacally. Perseus initially scowled at the hyperactive mechanic but frowned when he saw that there was a bullet wound in his stomach. They'd had to cauterize it to keep him alive. Luckily he was so used to burns from machine work or he'd be in even worse state.

"I'm surprised. He didn't even flinch when we sealed the wound up." Nico told them. Artemis had her arms crossed and was pouting. She had a fairly good idea of what Perseus was just about to tell her and she desperately wanted to hear it. One day she was sure that she was going to strangle the mechanic for his incredibly bad timing.

"Leo, are you fireproof?" Thalia asked. Leo sort of nodded in response lazily, his eyes unable to focus.

"Yeah, he lost a lot of blood, but he'll be fine in a little while." Frank nodded. His gratitude for the much smaller guy was almost unending through their travels.

"Here, give him some of these rations. They're my last ones." Perseus handed them a small amber colored wrapping that held chunks of solid material inside that was strung from the same color. Those little squares were vital in high risk operations that had a large chance of something going wrong.

"Holy shit! You've got Ambrosia? I thought the military stopped providing these as they were too expensive to manufacture. The wonder ration was what they called it. Able to speed up healing to a matter of hours." Piper looked at it wondrously before she snapped out of her funk.

"Didn't you say that you were injured?" Perseus nodded nonchalantly before casually holding up his still bleeding arm. Hazel came over and bandaged it up fairly well. But Artemis couldn't help but notice bits that could have been improved upon.

"Right. Next stop, Gaea. There are only guards left on the highest floor. The grand old Penthouse suite. And that's where we'll find Gaea." Perseus made a quick hand motion and everyone filed into the last remaining elevator.

"Status?" Jason's voice came through on the comms.

"TARFU." Perseus responded casually and calmly. Everyone looked at him with confusion.

"That bad huh?" Jason's voice pitched through again with a laugh.

"Leo's been shot in the stomach and is currently delirious and I've had a knife shove through my entire forearm, but other than that, situation's normal." Perseus responded with a small chuckle of his own.

"Alright. I see a helipad, I think I'm going to ditch the sniper and get myself over to you guys. I don't want to miss out all the fun after all." Jason laughed quickly before the line went dead.

"TARFU?" Annabeth asked with a raised eyebrow and a lazy grin. She hated the fact that Perseus was so enriched by such an insanely dangerous environment. In the midst of unbeatable odds was where the soldier of misfortune was at his best. It was the thing that turned her on the most about him, that he was well and truly one out of a million.

"Means Totally And Royally Fucked Up." Perseus responded without missing a beat. The elevator dinged. Final floor. There were four guards. Piper and Hazel immediately picked them all off. They fell dead at the exact same time.

"Huh, thought there'd be more guards than that, oh well." Perseus hummed quietly. No words were needed for what was to come next. There was NO way that Gaea wouldn't have any defenses set up beyond these huge oaken doors.

Perseus pointed at Nico then the air vent in the ceiling. Nico nodded and then within an instant nobody could see him. Perseus then pointed to Artemis, Annabeth and Thalia, then to one side of the doors. He then did the same for Frank, Hazel and Piper. Leo held back anyway, certain that he wouldn't be able to shoot properly yet. With on swift kick he blasted the double doors open. There stood Gaea behind an equally huge desk. But the thing was that it was hardly a desk any longer. On the frame stood the biggest single manned minigun that Perseus had ever seen in his life.

"OH FU-" Perseus deadpanned and luckily Artemis had tackled him out of the way of the doors right as the hallway was sprayed with bullets. "Scatter!" Perseus ordered. He was the single fastest of all of them and if anyone stood a chance of a direct assault, it was him. Frank and Thalia continued to take pop shots at the Dubai tycoon as Perseus sprawled through the doors.

"WHO THE FUCK PUTS A MINIGUN ON A DESK YOU INSANE BITCH!?" Perseus belted as he readied his side arm, his custom pistol that had immense technology integrated into it.

"Explosive rounds." He announced before the gun echoed his voice and loaded a prototype piece of technology. This was make or break for them as this was going to be the thing that could take down that minigun. Nico was silent over the radio, what the Hades was he doing? Perseus thought that his cousin would have navigated through the air ducts by now and killed Gaea but apparently that wasn't the case.

The sounds of sharpened metal whistling through the air followed by small contained explosions reached their ears and a second later the gun stopped firing. "Fine, guess we're doing this the old fashioned way!" Gaea screamed, pulling a pistol from underneath the desk before she unloaded the clip right into Perseus' chest when he'd charged in.

"That doesn't feel good!" He coughed after having been stopped in his tracks.

"I must admit, twelve rounds right in your chest cavity and you only just get taken down to one knee. What are you, a Dragon?" She looked bewildered before shoving another clip into the bottom of the gun and getting ready to fire on anyone else that decided to come through the doors.

"I didn't march through Hell multitudes of times just to get taken down by a rich bitch with nothing more than a ten millimeter, Nico NOW!" Perseus bellowed, shooting one final round into the tycoon's hand which caused a messy explosion of red flesh and bones. Before she could even understand what was going on, Nico dropped down from a ceiling panel overhead and slice through the air with a blade the size of his arm. A few seconds had passed before Gaea's head slowly rolled off of her neck and her body fell to the ground.

"Holy shit Nico, you could have stepped in sooner so that I didn't have to stretch my vest to it's limits." Perseus scowled. He took off his top to reveal a bullet proof vest underneath. He removed the sheath of extra strengthened fiber from inside. It wouldn't be good to soak up bullets anymore and would just serve to weigh him down.

"I told you not to do that again." Artemis whispered, glaring at Perseus immensely as she walked past him. He could do nothing about it, what was done was done. Their mission was nearly over.

Jason had just gotten the helicopter in place hovering outside the tower where there was a big overlaid balcony that stretched out quite far. He couldn't land the helicopter on it but he could happily hover above it long enough for them to all get on board.

The group were already starting to go towards it, having known that their job was finally over. "Annabeth, hack into their holdings and transfer everything that is unmarked." Perseus issued. She nodded and connected herself to the system. A video popped up on the desktop of both computers.

"Well, it seems that you've bested me Perseus." She spat his name, "But I am not without my last defenses. I knew that you would not let greed subside so I had explosives rigged around the entire tower, set to explode the moment an unauthorized access point is connected. I.E, you trying to transfer funds from my company." Gaea told him from the video.

"Annabeth." Perseus' voice called out uncertainly.

"I just need a few more seconds." She hissed back.

"I bet you're wondering how we know who you are and how we knew EXACTLY when you were coming to take us on, right? Trident is bigger than all of us and you can't possibly take it down before they put an end to you completely. Oh, and don't bother trying to get that dossier about your childhood out of my desk. Bottom left drawer. You'll never escape alive." Gaea laughed maniacally before the video shut down and was replaced with a timer. Twelve seconds.

"Annabeth! GO!" He thundered. The transfer was complete. Annabeth ran for the helicopter that Jason was struggling to keep level and yet still off of the tower. Explosives? No thank you. Perseus didn't have time to dally, he smashed through each and every drawer until he found the one he was looking for. How could Gaea have possibly known about his ONE weakness?

He needed to know what was inside it. He needed desperately to find out who he was before the amnesia. Before this life he had lead, he had lived as another, but that was a time long gone. He quickly glanced between the file and his friends. Which life did he want more?

With four seconds left until the timer went off he had to make a decision. He picked the file up and sprinted for the open doors that led to the helipad. The explosions rocked the tower at it's very foundations and Perseus had to jump. He fell, just short of the doors but made contact with something soft yet strong. He looked up to see his lovers eyes locked with his.

"When we get away from the exploding tower, you'd better tell me the full extent of that sentence you never finished earlier." Artemis told him as she hauled him up and held him closely.

"What was so important that you had to risk nearly dying anyway cuz?" Jason asked from the pilot's cockpit as the helicopter sped away from the exploding towers. The airstrip wasn't far. They'd need to hurry though before any officials tried to cease operations there.

"A file on my childhood. THIS is what's going to tell me where my father went, maybe it's even got something on your fathers as well. After all, the Big Three were there at the very beginning of the modernized mercenary business." He responded with harsh breaths. Two members of the Big Three had mysteriously disappeared at the same time. If that file truly had information on any of them, then was it at all possible that Trident was directly responsible for their disappearance?

After a moment of silence, someone had to break it, "So what happens now?" Hazel asked them all, looking around. In her eyes there was some small hope that they might continue to work as the reformed Seven. Ten just didn't sound as powerful as anything else.

"We all go our separate ways. As multi-billionaires." Annabeth told them dead seriously as she swiveled the laptop around to show them the figures that had been transferred to each an every bank account they had. The silence was palpable, you could hear a pin drop before everyone was brought back to reality and the sound of the helicopter blades whirred back into their senses. It was slowly however, their descent into the airstrip was coming in.

"Billionaires huh? Not my style, I'll have to have this one look after it for me. I'm a devil-dog until the day I die." Perseus announced before finally lying down once the doors had been closed. Jason was taking them straight back to the airfield, he couldn't wait to get them in the air and on their way back to Leo's compound.

Perseus rested his head in Artemis' lap, keeping his injured arm raised to stem the blood-flow. Artemis was stunned into silence, he'd never wanted wealth, not in his entire life. He finally had access to the answers he'd been searching for since he was nothing but a child. The things he was saying had finally come to light, she understood what he'd been telling his cousins. Artemis doubted that the other team members had caught on yet but it made perfect sense.

"All of you. Perseus, Thalia and Jason, Nico..." She got their attention. The deadliest family in the cosmos, something that Frank had said on the plane ride to Dubai. She was sure that he couldn't have even known the extent of the truth towards that very thing.

"You're all children of the Big Three aren't you?" She asked ever so quietly. The whole helicopter was once again steeped in silence. Jason pulled his headphones over his ears and concentrated on flying the chopper. He wanted no part in that conversation.

Thalia immediately looked away, ashamed that she could possibly have been who Artemis thought she was. Nico gazed off into the distance, much like Thalia had done and Perseus had let out a palpable sigh. "Yes, we are. My father is Poseidon, Nico's dad is Hades and then Thalia and Jason's old man is..." Perseus never got a chance to finish, there was OBVIOUSLY a huge correlation between those names.

"No!?" She demanded, looking down into Perseus' eyes. It couldn't possibly have been him, the one that had set the two of them on this path in the first place.

"Zeus." Perseus confirmed. Artemis' mind was racing at a million miles an hour. The sheer hostility that Perseus always seemed to be clouded in whenever they'd gone to Zeus' offices was because there was a huge amount of unseen history with the two of them, clearly. Zeus was Perseus' uncle after all was said and done and not to mention he was one of the Big Three. The unnamed warriors that had been through literal Hell together and come out unscathed.

Jason sighed, he really didn't want to have to go into this, "We're about to touch down and board the Memphis, ladies and gentlemen let's get the Hell out of here, we could all do with a vacation before the next group of dicks come along to kill us." He announced over the headset before landing the chopper. He wasn't wrong, that was what they were all going to do once Annabeth transferred the money equally, they were going to lay low in separate locations before regrouping and deciding what their future would hold.

The only thing that Perseus was concerned with was where he was going to go on holiday. He was thinking Bora Bora.

 **A/N: Review?**


	9. Chapter 9 - The Intermission

**Chapter 9 – The Intermission**

 **A/N: Sorry that I've been away from all of my stories for so long, I work a lot guys so there's really nothing I can do about it. So many updates from my favourite abridged series'. See if you can spot any ;)**

"-and she's hungry like the wolf!" Perseus sang with a well hidden smirk plastered across his face. Artemis groaned slightly at his antics. He'd only started singing it because they'd heard her stomach let out yet another fierce growl in demands for food. She had no idea why she was eating so much recently. It was actually making her sick at random times which was a huge pain considering that they were meant to be on their vacation.

The two of them were sat in sun loungers around the generously sized pool that sat comfortably on a balcony to the villa they were renting in the mountains on the islands near Bora Bora, somewhere that Perseus had been adamant about going to. She couldn't complain, the sun was lovely and the cocktails had just kept coming along. She had no idea that Perseus was well versed in mixology. So naturally, after their first day of rest they'd gone to the local towns and bought thousands worth in alcohol to keep them tied over for the time they were there.

"Shut up!" Artemis snapped at him, rubbing her stomach gently. She couldn't figure out why this was happening to her. They'd both eaten at the exact same places while they'd been there so if it was food poisoning then even the legendary Perseus would have felt some side effects but he'd been nothing but fine the whole time.

"You know, if it would make you feel better, we can just order a pizza today instead of going somewhere. You're clearly not feeling alright, so we'll give the alcohol a rest... Well, you'll give the alcohol a rest, and we'll just get something from back home." Perseus told her with a sympathetic glance. They were both mercenaries who walked the path of danger every day so it was just their luck that the one time they got to finally get away from that life that one of them would come down with a sickness.

It was a disturbing thought...

"Sure, pizza sounds good, just make sure there's pepperoni on it." Artemis told him quickly, sitting up to go inside their mansion like villa to swap out her cocktail for some orange juice. Perseus casually followed her, pulling up his phone to find the nearest pizzaria.

"Sure." Her agreed. Pepperoni, the staple for most pizzas, why not?

"And sausage." Artemis called after him quickly, not realizing that her was following her inside their place.

"OK." He answered immediately, having wanted to do that anyway.

"And ham." Ham as well? She was building his perfect pizza, it was starting to make him think that she was reading his mind.

"Right." He nodded nonchalantly.

"Extra cheese." Artemis muttered to herself, somewhat caught in thought by her imagining the creation she was making.

"Hmm." Perseus finally found a pizza place that was close to them and would deliver to their almost mountainous location.

"And pineapple." Artemis whispered quietly but Perseus' expert senses picked up on it. He looked up from the phone in confusion.

"Seriously?" He asked with a single raised brow. Pineapple? She'd built the almost perfect pizza and now she wanted pineapple.

"With fried eggs as well." Artemis nodded before Perseus could stop. She continued to just list off more ingredients to what she wanted.

"That is... What the hell?" He just looked on with his arms raised in sheer confusion. Artemis only took a few seconds before she too looked confused.

"I don't know! I'm just craving it for some reason!" She defended herself.

"You... What?" Perseus just stared at her like he'd been shot.

"What?" Artemis asked, finally noticing his look of shell-shock.

"What did you just say?" He asked her, his face turning pale.

"I said that I'm crav-..." Artemis stopped halfway through her sentence and the two of them just stared at each other in silence.

Before anything else could happen, the sound of a helicopter caught Perseus' attention and pulled him away from Artemis. She didn't think there was anything out of the ordinary thought.

"Artemis, do we have any weapons?" He asked her, putting his phone away. Her pizza would have to wait for a while.

"We have a few pieces each but that's it, we came by public transport so we didn't risk bringing an arsenal. Why are you even asking?" She queried impatiently. She wanted that pizza and she wouldn't wait around forever.

"That's why." Perseus told her whilst pointing at the helicopter that was coming straight towards them. It didn't appear to have any weapons attached to it but it was definitely not a civilian aircraft yet that wasn't the most alarming thing.

"It's just a helicopter, what's the issue?" She asked him, not getting whatever it was that he was seeing. Perseus quickly pulled her inside and shut all of the doors and windows on that side of the villa.

"Because it's just passed a no fly zone and doesn't have any visibility inside it. That could be an armed squad coming to take us out. Especially if it's involved with Trident." Perseus told her quickly, the urgency in his voice not going unnoticed by his lover.

Artemis sighed heavily, she wasn't going to get that pizza anytime soon. "Fine, I'll go and get the guns." She trailed off towards the master bedroom whereas Perseus continued to watch the incoming aircraft. The black chopper only appeared to be slowing down when it came to a hovering halt some altitude above the balcony attached to the side of the villa. Luckily there wasn't enough space for it to land.

Things only got much worse when the doors slid open and instead some ropes had been lowered. So they WERE about to assault the villa. Artemis quickly returned, handing Perseus his custom made M9. "Oh how I've missed holding baby."

"I'm right here you know." Artemis whispered harshly, gently pinching his elbow to bring his focus back.

"I was talking to the gun." Perseus grinned, winking at Artemis, loving how easy it was for him to get a rise out of her.

"I know, that's my point. I'm right here you know." She repeated with an even angrier scowl on show.

"Sorry. Anyway, I was right, invaders. Also, have you noticed that for the past ten minutes the road outside has been silent, they've probably blocked off the mountain path further down the road. We'll lure the attackers inside and wait for the chopper to leave before we take them out." He whispered before motioning for Artemis to follow him. They were inside their bedroom, everything Perseus had told her being confirmed by the sounds of the chopper's thundering blades moving the aircraft away only to be followed by the sounds of someone trying to be silent when opening the sliding glass doors that led to the huge balcony.

"Is it bad that I'm suddenly really horny?" Artemis whispered in Perseus' ear, pressing her body against his in a way that she knew would turn him on.

"No but I can't do anything about it until all of these invaders are dealt with." He told her, shooting her one of his special smiles that warmed her between the legs. Gods she hated when he did that because he knew that it would ALWAYS work in the way that he wanted it to.

"Sweep the house, kill on sight. Intel says that Hades was sighted two weeks ago on another French Polynesian island. It's highly unlikely to be a coincidence so the big Boss wants this dealt with quickly." Someone inside the hall announced extremely quietly.

Perseus wanted to almost growl at the sheer un-professionalism of announcing a briefing once inside the target area. He couldn't really complain because now he knew that they had great intelligence on his locations and that of Hades. Sadly it WAS all a coincidence but that didn't answer just what the hell Hades was doing on another island after all this time.

Without giving the invaders any more of a chance to gather themselves, he silently moved out of the bedroom and let off six rounds that each hit their mark. That wasn't all six of them dead but that was all of them out of action. He quickly figured out which one of them was the acting captain and finished the rest of them off.

"I'll never tell you-"

"Trident, right? Gaea already spilled the beans. So who's the Boss?"

"I'll never tell you anyth-"

"Oh and just so you know, I have no idea where Hades is, none of us have seen the man in over a decade, seriously, the location of the Big Three is just as much a mystery to us as it is to you. Seriously though, you're going to answer my questions now." Perseus told the captain with a small sigh.

"I'll never tell you-" He was cut off by a gunshot followed by his own pained cries.

"I swear to all that is holy, if I hear that a fourth time then I'll shoot the other testical. Now, what is Trident's goal?" Perseus hovered his knee above the blood pooling around the man's crotch, threatening to put severe pressure over the wound.

"Total global domination." The man weeped.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now, what exactly are their means of achieving total global domination?" Perseus pressed further. The man must have realized that at this point, he was likely going to die but that betraying Trident was his greatest chance of escaping alive.

"They've developed biochemical weapons that will distribute a flesh degrading gas that renders brain activity to a minimal. They've basically created a weapon that produces zombies. They were going to release them in third world countries then be the first people to go in and purge the 'zombies', then take the world as their own after proclaiming themselves the planet's saviours." The man told him quietly.

"Why do these things exist? That shouldn't be a thing. On a scale of a thing to nothing, that is a should-never-in-a-million-years-be-a-thing!" Perseus fumed, subconsciously putting a bullet through the captain's face.

"OK, so Trident are going to bomb the shit out of third world countries and make zombies, that's totally going to make the world pretty shitty unless we stop them. Looks like our vacation is over, let's get on the phone to the guys and get them up to speed." Perseus said, looking back to Artemis who was glancing out of the windows by the front door. She had a full view of the mountain path that led down to the villages below them.

"About that, my phone has been completely cut off from signal, yours too probably. We're going to have to fight our way through the seven... Eight cars that are coming our way." Artemis told him with a heavy sigh.

"Well, let's deal with that first then get the others to help us investigate anything we can about Trident. Sorry that our vacation had to go tits up. I'll make it up to you when we're safe." Perseus told her seductively with an almost feral growl lingering in his voice before he gave Artemis' ass a quick slap and replaced the magazine inside his gun before the two of them proceeded to storm the mountainous island near Bora Bora.

Trident wouldn't know what hit them.


	10. Chapter 10 - The Reciprocation

**Chapter 10 – The Reciprocation**

Bullets whizzed past the two titanic mercenaries of their age. Artemis was dashing between cover, periodically letting bullets loose, each one hitting their mark and taking down yet another black clad would be assailant that was trying to take their heads.

Artemis was doing things by the book, the way that she knew she'd taught herself to work, it was something that had earned her a title and great fame in the mercenary world.

Perseus on the other hand... Was casually strolling down the middle of the mountain road, shooting the odd gunman here and there whilst he happily sipped on a tom collins that he'd insisted on making before they left their holiday villa at the peak of the mountain road.

"I feel much better now that I've had a drink, Artemis." Perseus announced happily. He flicked his wrist, sending the spent magazine flying a few feet into the air, managing to clip the fresh one that had been tucked into his waistline before flipping his pistol when the empty magazing came back down. It would have looked far more impressive had it been done when they weren't in the middle of a firefight.

"You've been drinking all day!" Artemis cursed him from behind her cover. Bullets had come down on her stone barricade and made it hard for Perseus to hear her properly.

With a slight groan at the amount of effort he'd need, Perseus casually emptied half of his fresh magazine to get rid of the remainder of the enemies blocking their path. "What was that? I couldn't hear you with all of those guns." He asked with a grand smirk on show. The legendary devil-dog slipped some sunglasses onto his face and placed his pistol back into a black leather holster that hung over his shoulder.

"I said you've been drinking all day, this one is nothing new!" Artemis told him, deeply panting for breath. It seemed that whatever her oh so obvious affliction was, she was really struggling to keep pace with the legend that she was infatuated with.

"Yeah but with that whole zombie plan and Trident... It just felt necessary to top up my alcohol levels, none for you though, because... You know, you're up the du-"

"I know what I said, that doesn't mean anything Perseus!" Artemis cut him off, practically screeching to get him to stop.

"Fine, sorry." Perseus hid another smirk before finding a downed gunman's flack jacket. Hadn't done much to help him though. On the jacket was a still working radio which he picked up to listen in on.

Sounds of gunfire, people screaming and what Perseus knew only so well as the sounds of inevitable death was all happening in the background. "Sounds like we're not the only people these cock-satchels are here for." He muttered to himself before dropping the radio. It wouldn't be of much use to him.

"Must be those flashes of light down in the valley. Wonder who's down there..." Artemis was straining just to hear him before eventually giving up. If he wanted to mutter to himself then let him, she had more to worry about. Damn, why did her chest feel so fucking heavy?

"Well-" Perseus promptly downed the rest of his cocktail with a pleasured sigh, "Let's get going sexy." He winked at Artemis who wanted to growl at him in response but couldn't help grinning. This was one of the things she was starting to find so attractive about him. They had some leeway when it came down to their current situation anyway. This was hardly anything compared to what they'd been through in the past.

It probably went some way towards explaining how Perseus was so completely calm, casually walking, gunning, and drinking away while his biggest concern was the amount of sun he was getting.

At this point there was no doubts that the entire island would have been evacuated of all civilians or just put entirely on lockdown. If this was Trident, which it totally was from what the gunmen back at the peak villa had admitted, then there was no shortage of resources that they had at their disposal, neither of the mercenaries would be surprised if they had the capabilities to lock down an entire island.

"Signal interference is gone, I'll contact the others." Artemis whispered, placing a hand on Perseus' shoulder as they rounded more building at the base of the mountain road. They were on the outskirts of the markets, a once bustling series of streets that all intertwined with one another.

Perseus hummed in response but offered nothing more than that. His hearing was seriously drowned out as he'd opted to focus on his other senses. The sounds of gunfire were getting closer as they neared the centre of the markets.

Instinct kicked into overdrive before Perseus stormed through the streets and into the market square, dropping all of the enemies within a few seconds, giving them no time to return fire or even register than a new target of theirs had entered the fray.

When the last bullet hit the ground, Perseus was stood with his gun at arms length holding it out to a much older man in his sixties wear a what had once been a greyish black button up shirt that was fading down, now covered in dirt and debris from the firefight. He stood offhanded with a revolver pointed at Perseus from the hip. His other hand was in the pocket in his trousers, his _leather_ trousers.

"Hades?" Perseus asked, completely caught off guard as he lowered his pistol.

"Perseus? Oh good, this thing is empty." Hades muttered before putting the empty revolver at the back of his waistline. Perseus just stared in confusion at the antics of his crazy hard rocking uncle. It handn't taken that much longer before Artemis had caught up to him, staring in mutual confusion at the sight of the clearly older man stretching out his back with a series of agonizing pops.

"Oh boy, not as young as I used to be. Can't be running around like you kids any-more." He groaned heavily before sitting down on a cracked fountain base.

Perseus slowly looked around, trying desperately to ensure their perimeter was secure before he got completely caught up in a tangent about Hades appearing completely out of nowhere. He knew that the gunmen back at the villa had a report about Hades possibly being on one of these islands but for Perseus to see him again on the exact same island at the exact same time of attack. There was far more to all of this than he could account for.

"W-what... What are you doing here, Hades?" Perseus asked, looking up incredulously. The legendary mercenary snapped a fresh clip in his gun while he waited for the... Legendary mercenary... The ORIGINAL legendary mercenary, to answer him.

Honestly the whole titling system between different generations of 'legendary' mercenaries was quite convoluted. Especially when it was the The Big Three that were the first to become 'legendary' and then the only person from the new generation was Perseus himself and no others.

"Me? Well I've been hunting these bastards called Trident for almost a decade, they've got this nasty piece of work called General Madeira, don't let the name fool you though, he's-" Hades had been immediately interrupted when Perseus' fist had gone clean through the old shacked wall of one of the market stalls. Wood had splintered everywhere and sheets of rusty corrugated iron had gone flying away from the point where his fist had struck.

Artemis put her hands either side of Perseus' face, seeing only darkness and pain inside. "Madeira's life is mine to take, no one will rob me of that." His voice held promises of painful death.

"Whatever you say dear nephew of mine, I'm here for Big Fish, the idiot got captured by Trident and is being held... _Somewhere..._ Offshore from this little island, I don't know where yet." Hades shrugged casually before rubbing his knee. Those damn joints of his were starting to wear thin.

"What... Did you just say?" Perseus was immediately pulled out of his nightmarish funk when Hades had looked over at him.

"You heard me right, boy... We're on a rescue mission for yer dear old dad."

 **A/N: Yo, wassup? Small chapter but I've got more coming soon. Sorry it took me so long to get myself back into this story but I am finally here. If you've been following my other stories then you know why I've been away. Enjoy :)**


	11. Chapter 11 - The Reintegration

**Chapter 11 – The Reintegration**

"I'd managed to leave this business for what, two weeks? Yeah, two weeks retired and I've already been shot at thirty six times, and that's just today." Perseus grunted, rolling into cover between two run down shacks that stood as a poorly built coop for livestock. They really were storming through the market now.

"Were you counting?" Artemis asked through mildly impressed eyes. She'd never once counted the times that she'd been shot at, they were just so many occasions. Though to be honest she wouldn't have really been surprised, it was kinda just the way that Perseus' mind worked.

"To top it off I'm now conveniently saving the asses of the Big Three." Perseus continued to rant, mindlessly throwing a grenade that had rolled towards him. He looked aggravated but not by the people trying to gun them down. Artemis was having a rife time trying to hold her ground, it annoyed her even more than Perseus was just there fighting away without having to give much thought to it at all. Hades was chuckling to himself while loading large cased bullets into a smooth looking revolver.

"You kids never stop complaining, back in my day it would have been a great honour to even meet the Big Three." Hades sounded like he was simultaneously reminiscing and scolding Perseus.

"Yeah well back in your day it was rocks and stick with maybe the occasional discus kill." Perseus retorted, expending more rounds as he fired into the skulls of the now riot gear clad soldiers that were fighting them.

"Disrespectful!" Hades huffed, shooting his gun as he did. "You know, me and your dad have had our ears to the ground these past few years. We know that Zeus cashed out on us but we'd also heard that you'd made quite a name for yourself over in the middle east." The old mercenary told them.

It was Perseus turn to huff, "I was a marine, born and bred to fight, one with the water no less. Jason went airforce, became the best of the best, the Top Gun. Nico? Well, did you hear about that one assassin with a one hundred percent kill rate? No, of course you wouldn't, he's too good at his job for anyone to really know about him, but that little Angel of Death would happen to be your son." Perseus informed him, letting him in on the whole dirty truth of how the sons had followed their father's paths.

"Nico..." Hades spoke softly, reloading the revolver. "I suppose it can't be helped, you boys were always fighting among yourselves and getting into trouble, I should just be thankful you all grew up to be good kids." Hades sighed.

"We all kill people." Perseus pointed out in confusion, coming out of cover to pop more rounds at the few soldiers still advancing on them. It seemed that for the past few minutes the fighting had gotten even more intense than before but ever so slowly the rate at which more soldiers replaced the dead ones was slowing down.

"You've got good hearts." Hades shrugged, "I'd heard that you went off radar, something changed you and you became this whole lone wolf type. You REALLY made a name for yourself when you were on your own." Hades chuckled before looking over at Artemis, "Not so lone wolf any more though." He commented under his breath.

"Yeah well people change. Torture for days on end and the death of nearly my entire team turned me into a force of nature with questionably blurred lines. The middle east is where the old Perseus went to die and the new monster crawled out of the dust." Perseus responded, moving from his cover to kill the few remaining soldiers with the last of his magazine.

"That should be the lot of them for now but they'll be back, whatever your plan is we need to move, now." Artemis interjected, stopping their conversation before Perseus had to say any more about his harrowing past. It was something that was burdening him so much that she was starting to feel it in her own heart. He meant so much to her, it was a hefty price he'd had to pay to become the man he was today but it was the same man that she'd fallen in love with.

"The bay's substation is just up ahead, I want to hack into that and force the submarines in the area to surface, we'll be able to figure out which one old barnacle beard is on from that." Hades moved without awaiting a response.

"Barnacle beard?" Artemis whispered. Perseus just shrugged, how was he supposed to know what it meant? He barely understood most of what Hades was talking about in general, let alone about his dad.

"Hack the substation? It feels like that isn't a possible thing but oh well, let's go." Perseus sighed, marching on to catch up with the old goat that had taken the lead.

Hades hadn't been wrong, there really was a small hidden station, what the hell it was doing on an island resort was beyond him but maybe it hadn't been built with military operation in mind. "This was meant to be my retirement holiday Hades. After this is done you're going to bugger off elsewhere so that me and Artemis can have some uninterrupted adult time." Perseus grinned, throwing his appropriated assault rifle down to one side. He'd need to go back to his trusty pistol for the narrow walkways of a submarine.

"Right so here's the plan, you two stay here and guard this shitty building, I'll go and single handedly fight an entire submarine crew and save the dumbass on board. Good plan? Great plan." Perseus ranted off, jumped over a railing that led all the way towards the doors of the substation itself. He didn't even know which submarine it would be. He didn't even know if there would be more than one, but he was in his zone of uninterrupted focus.

"He doesn't even know where he's going. Arrogant." Hades huffed. Artemis couldn't help but let out a sigh of contentment. Her Perseus was out to save the world.

"Is he always like this?" Hades asked, pushing what appeared to be random buttons, but Artemis doubted he'd be that foolhardy with his brother and nephews life on the line.

"No, he's usually a little more cocky, sometimes a little more serious. He's genuinely annoyed more than anything that our retirement holiday has been gatecrashed. We were about to order pizza as well." Artemis grumbled at the same time her stomach demanded food.

 **Line Break – Hello, back again.**

Poseidon slowly looked towards the light, glaring right into his eyes. He squinted to try and filter some of it out as it was hard to get used to after being kept in a pitch black boiler room chained up by the wrists for god knows how long.

"Reports say that your brother is currently on that island to the east. Fighting along the island are also two other mercenaries that we did not account for." A thick Spanish accent called out to him, "Do you have any idea who it could be?" He asked, pulling Poseidon's head up by the hair.

"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me anyway." He sighed, exhausted from the extensive torture he'd received at the command of the man in front of him.

"Only a world renowned mercenary called Perseus, I'm sure you know the one. They will die before they reach you Poseidon, and on the off chance that they make it here alive, you won't be." He announced with a horrible smile, eagerly awaiting the reaction of fear that he expected to see on Poseidon's face.

"I'm not afraid of you, you're named after a fucking cake." Poseidon laughed before being sucker punched in the face.

"Your humour will not last, mercenary. Your bloodline will fall on this island." General Madeira shot back at him venemously before leaving Poseidon's temporary cell. He knew one thing was for sure, the boy better hurry up as Poseidon wasn't sure how much longer he could deal with this kind of physical strain.

He wasn't as young as he used to be.

 **A/N: A short one but I'm not feeling this story that much anymore so it's better than nothing. Oh look, three different stories updated within a week. Review?**


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